By Coach Heather Struve
The South O’Brien Softball Team used a big five-run second inning to march past Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn 7-4 in a War Eagle Conference matchup May 28 at Paullina. The winners improved to 2-1 in the conference.
The Wolverines got the early 1-0 lead in the first inning. Leadoff batter Brooklyn Edwards drew a walk and was replaced by her courtesy runner, Kelsee Warnke, who stole second, was sac bunted to third by Reese Farquhar and hit in by Marissa Ebel.
In the bottom of the second South O’Brien put five big runs on the board and this was really the story of the ballgame. Jinger Nieuwenhuis had the only hit of the inning, a two-run single, but the Wolverines also reached base twice on errors, had two walks and one hit batter.
With South O’Brien leading 6-0, the score remained the same until the Wolverines put up another run in the sixth. Lindsey Einck led off the inning with a double and was replaced by pinch runner Warnke. Warnke stole third and made it home on a hit from Ashlynn Gunnerson. Feeling pretty comfortable with the lead, but the Hawks were not thinking the same thing. They came out in the top of the seventh and ripped off five hits to score four runs. They had the bases loaded with just one out when a Hawk batter hit a slow liner to Farquhar at third for the second out and Farquhar beat the runner back to third for the final out on the double play.
Brooklyn Edwards went the distance on the mound. She did great three times through the HMS lineup, giving up just one hit in the first six innings of play. It is tough facing hitters that many times and the fourth time through they just started getting on to her. In the game she gave up six hits and four runs (three earned), walked three and struck out one. She really kept it around the zone, yet moved her pitches around. She stayed very composed under pressure at the end. Our defense also played well, committing just two errors on the night. It was a great team effort and win!
Einck had a double. Nieuwenhuis had a single and a pair of RBI’s, while her courtesy runner, Avery Halverson, scored a run. Ebel recorded a hit, a run and an RBI. Gunnerson had a single. Runner Warnke scored 3 times.
HMS
0 0 0 0 0 0 4 – 4
S. O’Brien
1 5 0 0 0 1 x – 7