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Softball Rolls Over Kennedy, Wins 7-4

The Softball Cats may have won their game Thursday afternoon against Kennedy by the slim margin of 3 runs, but they were in total control all game long.

Beginning in the first inning, Westminster loaded the bases on a hit by pitch and back to back walks with one out, but the opposing pitcher bore down and got out of the jam.

Sophomore Dani Mabry threw her second straight scoreless inning in the top half, and the Cats were right back at it in the bottom of the frame. Once again, the Cats showed incredible patience at the plate, as a pair of walks and a bunt put two more runners in scoring position. A line out would end the inning, bringing Westminster’s total stranded runner count up to 5.

Kennedy would take the lead on an RBI double, but Westminster came back in a big way. Junior Maddie Volding walked to lead off the inning, and she was quickly brought home on a triple from freshman Reese Earleywine to left that rolled all the way to the wall. Junior Izzi Clawson would strike out her second time, but the next batter, sophomore Katelyn Graham, didn’t have to move to bring home Reese, as the increasingly wild Kennedy pitcher threw a pitch all the way to the backstop to give the Cats the lead for good. A line out would end the inning, but the damage had been done.

The next inning the Cats would strike again, with Senior Brooke Lemp scoring on Junior Maddie Volding’s RBI single.

In the fifth, Dani worked around 2 singles and a bunt to escape unscathed. In the bottom half, Izzi opened the inning by roping a single right down the line. When asked what adjustments she made after her last two ABs ended in a strikeout, she said, “I kept getting called on the same pitch, so I decided that was the pitch I would hit. I knew she would throw it in, and when she did I just turned on it.” Katelyn Graham singled, but Izzi was held at third. Lead off hitter and freshman Lauren Gates hit an RBI triple to bring home Katelyn and Izzi, making it 5-1. Pitcher Dani Mabry grounded out to end the inning.

Dani let up two more runs as she struggled with control in the top half of the inning. The coach ran out for a meeting with his pitcher, and Dani turned around and got the next hitter to ground out to first.

In the bottom half, back to back walks led off the inning, and Izzi was key once again as she bunted home a run. Katelyn Graham took a pitch deep to right in the next at bat, scoring one and advancing her all the way to third. “I consider myself more of a power hitter. I definitely looked up to [my brother] Kevin, and he has always helped me,” noted Graham on her second big hit of the day.

Kennedy would tack on another in the top half of the seventh, but Dani would close it out, getting the complete game victory.

Kennedy was a key game for the young softball team to prove themselves. Junior Izzi Clawson noted that Kennedy and Westminster have been rivals in the past, noting how “they had a senior pitcher that we always struggled with, and we had our own senior pitcher graduate last year, so this game was important to see how the youth of our team would perform.”