Statesmen Tame the Lions: WG 5, NWCH 2

We got the challenging game we expected (and hoped for) on our Jeffco trip to play the Lions of Northwest HS. It was a crisp game that an inexperienced observer might have confused with a varsity tilt. For sure the level of sportsmanship from both teams was worthy of accolades at any level. Not even sure TK worked up a sweat, needing only 57 pitches to record her 21 outs in the 5-2 win, tying Olivia Collins’s record for most wins in a season with 15 (of our total 16 against a single loss). The defense made the routine plays she generated behind her and in slightly over an hour we were talking, packing up, and heading back to our own ‘hood.

Today’s offense featured Lydia Beggs and Taylor Smith, each with 4 hits and 2 runs; Taylor had 2 doubles and a triple in her collection. We also saw fundamentally sound softball with 2 sacrifice bunts each from Sarah Sammon and Caitlyn Boyle (who added a great throw from RF to defuse a potential threat in the fifth inning when Lions tried to roar).

This was another team win, with contributions all over the field, at the plate, and in the dugout. Veteran leadership has done what I didn’t think was possible, creating the beautiful team-first attitude and chemistry that rivals what Coach Cerutti and I marveled at last year.

We are Road Warriors for the rest of the season, as tomorrow we send a hybrid team (in what is technically an Orange game) to Lutheran South (where Black will travel again on Monday – we can’t quite explain that either), with a roster complicated by band conflicts. And then Saturday will see us at the KAA for the annual Hancock Tournament, where we will be defending our fourth straight title. We finish at Kirkwood on Tuesday, looking for a season sweep of our rival.
Photos thanks to Karen Smith.

We were a little bit out in the country. Bug forecast proved correct.

You can try to bunt on us if you want, but we'll all be moving. Note LF Sarah Sammon on the move in the background.

Taylor Smith's 4 for 4 day included two doubles and a triple.

Emmy Gary and her magic bat drives in Taylor Smith with a big seventh inning insurance run.

Lydia Beggs also went four for four, scoring 2 runs and driving in another.

The injury to Alyssa Moran necessitated moving Nic Rikand to CF and Taylor Smith shifted over the left side at short.