C/A softball captures two wins over Owen-Withee
By Nathaniel Underwood
The Colby/Abbotsford softball team notched not just their first win of the season, but also their second as they swept the Owen-Withee Blackhawks in impressive fashion last Tuesday evening. The co-op outscored their Cloverbelt-East rivals 38-8 in the two game series, not just winning but doing so in dominating fashion. They also fell to Loyal/ Greenwood later in the week.
Loyal/Greenwood, 14-0
Not much seemed to go the co-op’s way during their road game against Loyal/Greenwood last Thursday. Colby/Abby was held to just two hits and a big third inning pushed the game in the hosting squad’s favor.
While Colby/Abby was able to hold their opponents to just one run over the first two innings of play, a double-digit effort from Loyal/Greenwood in the third completely changed the complexion of the contest. While the home team had four hits in the inning, three errors and four walks helped the inning continue.
The home team added another three runs in the fourth to end the game in five innings.
Outside of hits from Audrey Fleischmann and Ella Schreiber, the Colby/Abby lineup was not able to generate much in the way of offense. No co-op runner reached beyond second base in the loss.
Owen-Withee, 23-8
It only took four hits for the Colby/Abby club to rack up 23 runs against Owen-Withee in the first game of a double-header last Tuesday evening.
Patience at the plate was key for the co-op as they drew 11 walks in the blowout victory over their Cloverbelt-East foes. Control on the mound was difficult to come by for the hosting Blackhawks, who also hit 12 batters over the course of the evening.
A 14-run first inning for the co-op put them immediately in the driver’s seat. An impressive nine runs came across the plate for Colby/ Abby before the first out of the game was recorded, their first 11 batters reaching safely. In a statistically unlikely scenario, the co-op hardly needed to lift the bats off their shoulders in the monster inning. Despite batting twice around the order and notching double digit runs, the Colby/Abby lineup did not collect a single hit in the entire inning, instead drawing nine walks and taking advantage of seven batters who were hit by pitches.
A triple from Tatum Bargender in the second inning gave the co-op their hit of the game and she quickly came around to score on an RBI single by Ella Schreiber. She and
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Audrey Fleischmann would later come around to score in the inning to give the co-op a 17-2 lead.
While Owen-Withee closed the gap slightly by adding five runs in the bottom half of the frame and then picking up another in the third, a six-run effort for the visitors in the fifth sealed the deal. Nevaeh Treankler drove in Lucia Perez to start off the scoring for the co-op and she later came around to score on another single from Bargender. With two more hit batters and a pair of walks, the Colby/ Abby club was able to drive in four more runs in the inning.
Schreiber handled the first two innings on the mound for the co-op, going three innings while surrendering eight runs on six hits and three walks. Only five of those runs were earned and she struck out one batter. Bargender came in to finish off the game for Colby/Abby, not allowing a hit in her two shutout innings of work. She struck out three batters and walked two.
Bargender also collected two of the co-op’s four hits, going 2-for-3 with four runs scored, two walks and an RBI. Treankler and Schreiber had the other two hits for the coop, both scoring three times each. Perez and Jennifer Monroy both had stolen bases.
Owen-Withee, 15-0
The co-op followed up their first win of the season with another as Tatum Bargender and the Colby/Abby defense completely shut down the Blackhawks in their second game of Tuesday’s double-header, blanking Owen-Withee 15-0.
It was one of Bargender’s best statistical pitching performances of the season. The senior went all four innings for the co-op, striking out five batters while allowing just two hits and one walk over the course of the contest. Thirtythree of her 44 pitches were strikes, leading to very few free bases for the opposing Blackhawks’ squad. The defense played well enough behind her, committing just two errors.
Colby/Abby’s lineup was once again able to take advantage of the lack of accuracy from the Owen-Withee pitching staff. They drew seven walks and had six batters hit by pitches to supplement their six hits.
All four of the co-op’s runs in the first inning were able to score after wild pitches got away from the Blackhawks’ catcher, with Nevaeh Treankler, Elizabeth Perez, Audrey Fleischmann and Bargender all coming around to score in the inning. Lucia Perez was able to add a fifth run in the bottom of the second after an error by Owen-Withee allowed her to reach safely before eventually coming home on yet another wild pitch.
Colby/Abby broke the game open in the third. Maria Saso picked up the co-op’s first RBI of the game when she drove in Ella Schreiber on a single. The lineup continued to roll from there, racking up nine runs over the course of the inning. A key single from Schreiber cleared the bases following an error by the Blackhawks defense and she would eventually come around to score the final run of the inning on an RBI groundout from Kierslyn Orth. Colby/Abby was able to collect three hits and two walks in the inning.
Lucia Perez tacked on the co-op’s 15th run of the contest in the bottom of the fourth, scoring on a wild pitch after Treankler was able to advance her on a single.
Six Colby/Abby batters came up with a hit in the victory, with Treankler, Bargender, Schreiber, Orth, Saso and Elizabeth Perez all collecting one each. Lucia Perez led the team with three runs scored.
