The Hillcrest Academy Raven softball team saw their regular season come to an end on Friday with a 10-2 loss to Montezuma in Kalona. Hillcrest scored first in the opening inning when Esther Hughes doubled and Sarah Miller drove her in with a one out RBI single to make it 1-0. That’s where the score stood until the third when Montezuma broke through with three runs on a pair of hits to go up 3-1. The Ravens responded in the home half of the third with another run, this time Miller driving in Evelyn Gerber to make it 3-2, but that’s as close as the Ravens would get the rest of the night. The Bravettes poured on the offense scoring twice in the fourth and seventh innings and three times in the fifth. The big blows of the game came from the bat of lead-off hitter Kalynn Wanders who smacked two, two-RBI singles with two outs in each of the fifth and seventh innings to build the Montezuma cushion. After the game, Raven head coach Kent Blossom talked about the positives his team can take from the loss. “We’ve been taking a slightly different approach at the plate over the last week. Quicker hands, quicker bat through the zone to get the barrel to the ball and it’s working. Ten total hits is a big number for us or any team in a game. Leah has done a great job in the circle. She has been a rock all year. Tonight the defense played great behind her with no errors. I love the energy that the team is playing with right now. They are giving their best, they are having fun and that’s all you can ask for going into a playoff matchup with a conference rival Monday in Highland. We are going to give our all and go after it.”
Sarah Miller finished three for four at the plate with a pair of RBI for Hillcrest. Leah Bontrager took the loss in the circle going all seven innings, surrendering 12 hits and 10 runs. The Raven defense played error free on the night. With the loss, Hillcrest ends the regular season at 0-11. They will start the regional tournament Monday when they travel to Highland to take on the Huskies. KCII will have that game live, beginning with the Washington HyVee pregame show at 6:30 and first pitch at 7p.m.