MVC softball play begins with 1-1 split
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Photo by Anthony Jones: Following a homerun, Logan Looby celebrates with teammates at home plate.
By Anthony Jones
sports.times.tribune@gmail.com
Mississippi Valley softball play is officially underway after last week.
Triad’s league campaign began on April 10 against Waterloo. The Bulldogs had won their previous two games by a combined score of 23-0 and their ace Mia Miller tossed a perfect game in her previous outing.
The red hot Bulldogs came out swinging in Troy for a 5-0 lead after three innings. Triad first found the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth, as Sam Jarman drove Sam Hartoin in on a double.
Waterloo responded by extending their lead to 7-1 in the top of the fifth and making Delany Hess enter in relief for Maddie Hart. The Bulldogs later led 9-1 after the top of the seventh.
The Lady Knights’ would pull within 9-2 after Alyssa DeWitte singled Phoebe Feldman home. This proved to be the game’s final tally.
Looking for a rebound on April 12, Triad hosted the Civic Memorial Eagles. Their purple and yellow foes boasted an 8-2 record before their meeting and a 1-0 start to league play.
Hess took to the mound in the MVC matchup and delivered the first hit of the game with a double in the bottom of the second. Chloe Seger scored later in the inning off a wild pitch and Hess subsequently scored off a Syd Horn groundout to take a 2-0 lead.
Logan Looby added one more run in the bottom of the second after sending a pitch over the fence in center field.
The only runs scored across the rest of the game came in the fourth inning.
Civic Memorial pieced together two hits and a walk in the top of the fourth, pulling them within 3-1. This proved to be the only run they would tally against Hess, who went the distance in the circle.
Their lone run was canceled out in short order, after Triad’s Feldman struck a first pitch homer in the bottom of the fourth. Her long ball provided the game’s final score of 4-1.
Hess’s complete game was only her second of the season and third the team has tallied.
Coach Kris Kleeman remarked of the team surrendering a season-low one run, “Great defense. It’s a work in progress, but it’s starting to fall together a little bit at a time.”
She was also glad to see the lower part of her lineup deliver two home runs.
“It’s nice from girls who would tell you themselves that they feel like they have been struggling. Their pitcher did a nice job. She kept our first four batters off the bases for the most part and the bottom half of our lineup had to step up and do some things that were really good today,” Kleeman discussed the sufficient offense.
