Spirit Blue picks up a win in St. Paul Tournament
BROKEN BOW- We finally put it all together! This was the feeling surrounding the Spirit Blue Softball team after their 3-1 victory over St. Paul on July 28.
After a season of close losses and ups and downs, Spirit Blue picked up their second victory of the season.
“That was the best game the girls have played this year,” Spirit
Blue head coach Tom Griffith said. “The other team was hitting, but we just played good solid defense.”
A big struggle for the team has been hitting the ball. Against St. Paul they shook off that issue and scored a run in the top of the first.
Shaylee Chilewski was walked to start the game. She was moved to second by a bunt by Victoria Coleman and stole third. Brooklyn Cox flew out to center field allowing Chilewski to tag up and score.
The game stayed the same until the fourth when Nikki Peters hit a triple to begin the inning. Kyla Phillips singled up the middle driving her in.
Spirit Blue’s final run came in the fifth when Chilewski scored on a ground out to second base by Victoria Coleman.
In the bottom half of
the inning St. Paul tried to make a comeback. In the end, they were only able to get one run back.
Karina Kitt had one of her best pitching performances on the season. She went six innings and gave up only one earned run and had two strikeouts.
“She pitched a solid game,” Griffith said. “I had a chat with her before the game and told her, Kitt we can’t have anything high, the balls gotta be low.”
Early in the day, Spirit Blue did not have the same result against Gresham. They were shutout in an 11-0 defeat in four innings.
Most of the damage was done in the third, where nine runs were scored. Spirit Blue had good opportunities in both the first and second to score with the bases loaded, but a double play in the first and a line out in the second bailed Gresham out.
The final game of the day was against Lawrence. Spirit Blue struck first with a run in the bottom half of the first inning.
With Brooklyn Cox on first, Peters singled to center field. Cox was able to turn on the jets and score on a throw off the mark at the plate.
On the mound, Danielle Claflin was able to pitch three innings of scoreless softball.
Lawrence was finally able to put a dent in her perfect game in the fourth. They scored two runs to gain the lead.
They added three more runs in both the sixth and seventh innings.
Broken Bow Spirit White had a tough day in St. Paul as they went 0-3, losing to Lawrence 7-6, Seward 9-3, and St. Paul 4-2.
Against Lawrence, Spirit White scored four runs to begin the game.
In the first, Kaylee Petersen hit a deep homer to center field scoring both herself and Mya Weverka. It was followed up by a single by Lila Bloomer in the second to right field scoring Brianna Arguello and a double by Kylee Racicky that scored
Bloomer.
After scoring a run, Bloomer drove in a runner with a single up the middle brining in Kate Holcomb.
Even though Spirit White led, Lawrence continued to keep things close into the later part of the game. With the score tied 6-6, in the bottom half of the sixth they were able to drive in the winning run on an error by Spirit White.
In game two, Seward had the bats going early with seven runs in the first two innings. Spirit White scored three runs on a walk, an error on a hit by Bloomer, and a ground out that scored Arguello.
The final game of the night for Spirit White was a heartbreaker against St.Paul.
Spirit White scored one run in the first when Holcomb singled to left field driving in Joscelyn Coleman. Their second run came on a flyout by Petersen to third base that scored Racicky.
Going into the bottom of the fifth, Spirit White had a 2-1 lead. St. Paul rallied for three runs on a passed ball, a single, and an error.
Both teams wrap up their season’s this weekend at the Class C State Tournament in Hastings. Spirit White plays Lawrence at 4:30 p.m. and Spirit Blue plays David City Blue Blaze at 2:45 p.m. at the Smith Softball Complex.