South O’Brien wrapped up a busy week by participating in Sioux City West’s Wolverine Classic Earlybird Softball Tournament on June 7. South O’Brien lost 7-4 to 11th-ranked Woodbury Central but came back to double up River Valley 10-5. Following the day’s action the Wolverines’ season record stood at 3-4.
In the first game the Wildacats snapped a 3-3 tie with two runs in the fifth inning and then tacked on two more in the sixth.
“Tawni Wulf started out pitching, but had a tough time finding the strike zone and was replaced by Abby Woodall after two innings of play,” said Wolverine head coach Heather Struve. “Woodall only lasted three batters before being replaced by Alli Griebel who threw four innings and then Wulf finished up the last inning of the game. Just a small zone and we struggled to throw strikes. We put a few too many baserunners on with a free pass.”
Wulf walked a total of six batters and gave up two runs (one earned). Woodall allowed one earned run on two walks and a hit. Griebel yielded four earned runs on eight hits while walking three, striking out three and hitting a batter.
With only two strikeouts, South O’Brien was putting the ball in play. “We hit the ball all right with seven team hits, but never really got that one big inning that we needed,” said Struve. Griebel went 2-for-3 at the plate and had an RBI to lead all hitters. BreLee Rasmussen, Ashlyn Gunnerson and Wulf each went 1-for-3 with a run scored. Both Reese Farquhar and Lindsey Einck recorded a hit as well.
S. O’Brien 0 1 0 2 0 0 1 – 4
W. Central 1 0 2 0 2 2 x – 7
Immediately after coming off the loss to Woodbury Central the Wolverines faced River Valley. This battle of the Wolverines might rightly be called the Alli Griebel show. “Griebel went the distance on the mound and threw a gem of a game!” remarked Struve. “She also led us on offense going 3-for-4 with an RBI.” Others found success at the plate as well. Abby Nelson was 3-for-5 with a run and 2 RBI’s. Getting two hits apiece were Woodall, Gunnerson, Einck, and Maeci Stevens. “We ended up with 15 team hits to score our 10 runs,” noted Struve. “It was a fun game on offense. We struggled a bit in the field committing five errors, but we buckled down enough to leave 12 River Valley runners stranded. It was a fun win to end our day!”
R. Valley
3 0 0 2 0 0 0 – 5
S. O’Brien
2 0 5 1 0 1 1 – 10