Photos Courtesy of Hillcrest Academy Yearbook

Before fireworks fill the sky this Independence Day, the Hillcrest Academy Raven and Columbus Wildcat softball teams started July with a bang, lighting up the scoreboard in CJ, with the Ravens slugging their way to a 14-7 win in a shoot out. Hillcrest put four on the board in the first, only to see Columbus answer and tie it with four of their own in the second. With the game even, the Ravens got another four spot in the fourth to take an 8-4 lead. After a Hillcrest run in the fifth made it 9-4, the Wildcats countered with three in the bottom half to get within 9-7 before the Ravens closed strong with two in the sixth and three in the seventh to score the win.

The Ravens out hit the ‘Cats 15-7, including four extra base hits. Malia Yoder led the Ravens with a dominant five for five night that included three RBI and three runs scored. Claire Withrow drove in two on a hit with a run scored. Kylee Statler, Morgyn Nafziger, Delaney Shaw, Erin Bontrager and Stavia Miller all had an RBI each. Statler, Nafziger, Shaw and Bontrager all had two hits. Nafziger also scored three times, Shaw and Bontrager twice each. This week, Hillcrest head coach Kent Blossom joined the KCII PM Sports Page and talked about the recent production from his lineup.

Blossom said, “We tried to implement a lot of small ball situations. A number of our hitters got bunts down successfully and then we tried to create chaos on the basepaths. I thought we did that really well. We came up with some big hits when we needed to and pushed some runs across. Credit goes to Malia Yoder, leading our offense with five hits. She continued to see good pitches and hit it hard. She hit in front of Delaney Shaw, who can also wreak havoc at the plate for us. It’s a great 1-2 punch that we have. In our order one through nine. We can come up with some good at bats and continue to put pressure on the opponents defense.”

For Columbus, Ellie Sanders and Aracely Garza each knocked in a pair. Sanders, Daniela Diaz, and Kennedy Woepking all had multi-hit days. Sydney Clark added an RBI. Malia Yoder collected the win in the circle, with seven innings of work, two earned runs, seven walks and nine Ks. She outdueled Woepking who went seven in the circle for the Wildcats with 14 hits, five earned runs, and 10Ks. The Ravens improved to 11-12 after the win as the Wildcats fall to 6-21.