CENTERVILLE — A pair of losses at the Centerville Tournament Saturday followed a 12-7 setback to WCAC foe AC/GC Thursday and sent the Woodward-Granger softballers stumbling to an 0-4 start.[wpedon id=”82220″ align=”center”]
New head coach Owen Hunter’s team is one of the youngest and most inexperienced anywhere. Comprised almost entirely of underclassmen and eighth graders, only three players return with considerable varsity experience, and growing pains, the coach said, will be part of the process.
“We just have to stay patient as the younger girls learn what it is like to play at the varsity level,” he said. “I like out attitude and I believe we can handle it. These girls love softball — they know it won’t come all at once but are eager to play and get better.”
W-G fell to Central Lee in the first of two games at Centerville Saturday, all games of which were limited to five innings. The game is almost certainly the first meeting between the two schools (Central Lee — also nicknamed Hawks — is located in Donnellson in far southeastern Iowa).
Central Lee jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, with W-G scoring in the fourth before Lee added a final run in the fifth.
Maddi Danti singled and scored on an Emma Anderson base hit to account for the W-G tally. Rian Jamison, Katelyn Bandstra and Natalie Weaver also had hits for W-G.
Ava Petersen threw five frames, yielding five runs (one earned) on six hits and three walks while striking out two.
Centerville’s Alyssa McElvain issued only one walk and struck out 12 as the Redettes posted a 12-4 win. McElvain aided her own cause with a double and three RBIs.
Elly Polich took the loss for the Hawks. She was touched for 12 runs on seven hits and four walks while fanning one. Eight W-G errors, including five in a five-run fifth, resulted in five runs being unearned.
Alissa Smeltzer had two singles, stole a base, scored and drove in a run, with Alexis Bixler singling home two runs for the Hawks. Petersen had a pinch-hit RBI-double and scored, with Chloe Hogue recording a hit and a run. Natalie Weaver also scored, with Kaycee Major adding a base hit.
AC/GC scored three times in the top of the first frame for a quick lead Thursday, but W-G tied the contest with three runs of their own in second. Four Charger runs in the fourth was countered by two Hawk tallies in the fifth as the score moved to 7-5, with five AC/GC runs in the seventh creating a 12-5 gap. W-G kept fighting, adding two runs in their final at-bat, but it was not enough.
Weaver had three singles and a RBI, with Smeltzer hitting a single and a triple. Petersen tripled home two runs, with Jamison, Anderson, and Katelyn Bandstra providing base hits.
Major cranked a solo home run in the fifth, the first dinger this season for the senior and for the team.
Jamison surrendered 12 runs (seven earned) in seven frames from the ring. She allowed 13 hits and a walk and finished with one strikeout.
W-G will spend the upcoming week on the road, visiting Madrid Tuesday, Gilbert Thursday, and Bondurant-Farrar Friday.
