The long awaited start to the summer sports season was last night and the Washington softball team opened the year by dropping a pair of games at rival Fairfield.
As heard on KCII, in game one the Trojans scored early and extended the advantage late en route to a 10-0 victory in five innings. A two run lead in the fourth turned into five when Hannah Simpson hit a three run blast to center and batting around in the fifth allowed the Trojans to put up a five spot for the mercy rule win. Fairfield pitcher Alison Rebling was a code that Washington had a tough time cracking, as they mustered up just two baserunners including Rylee Fishback recording the only hit. Alexa Mitchell took the loss in the circle giving up 10 runs on eight hits and striking out five.
The Demon bats came alive in the nightcap, but a late surge by the Trojans gave them a sweep with a 14-6 final. Washington led for most of the game building a 4-0 advantage after three frames on the strength of RBI groundouts from Alexa Mitchell, Halle Leyden, and Cameron Malichky. The Trojans cut into the deficit after a three run third and eventually took a 6-5 lead in the fifth. Washington threatened in the sixth, but came up empty and the contest got away from them in the bottom half when Fairfield plated 14 batters and tacked on eight runs. Washington managed 11 hits led by Kellie Dallmeyer going 3-for-5 with one RBI. Kinsey Duwa and Anna Venenga each added a pair of knocks. Cara Linnenkamp was humming along for awhile in the circle, but a couple big Trojan innings gave her the loss finishing with 12 hits given up.
Head Coach Ben Obermann tells KCII Sports a positive to takeaway was how the bats responded in game two. “We had much better approaches at the plate in the second game. We were spraying the ball from gap to gap and anytime you record double-digit hits with six runs you are going to win a lot of games. I was pleased with how we responded after a poor offensive showing in the first game.”
The Demons start the year 0-2, but last night’s contests do not affect conference standings. Washington seeks their first win tomorrow when they travel to face Central Lee. The Demon baseball squad broke out the bats in a 14-3 opening season victory against the Trojans.