RedTail Softball Opens Season at Midwest Bash
The RedTail Softball program opened up its season on Thursday, February 19th in Park Hills, Missouri. The Tails faced two opponents, losing to NJCAA D1 St. Charles Community College 8-7 and losing to Mineral Area Community College 3-1.
Game 1: SCCC (8), HCC (7)
The RedTails started the game out on top, scoring three quick runs in the first inning. Mackenzie Bridgewater singled and stole second base. Mya Chamberlin walked to put runners at first and second, and Ellie Lorenz hit a home run to left field to put the Tails up 3-0. A single by Isabelle Kriegel and walk by Jordan Trueblood continued the inning, but the Cougars shut down the threat.
The Cougars responded in the bottom of the first, scoring two runs on five walks.
SCCC scored five more runs in the bottom of the second. They did so from three walks, one single, and two doubles.
The RedTails weren't done attacking yet, in the top of the third they showed some fight. Chamberlin started the inning with a double, and Kriegel was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second. Trueblood hit a fly ball to right, allowing Chamberlin to tag up and move to third base. With runners at the corners, Alyvia Anderson blasts a double to score both runners, cutting the score to 7-5 in favor of SCCC.
In the bottom of the fourth, a Cougar homerun made the score 8-5.
Hawkeye tacked on their last two runs of the game in the top of the fifth. A Kriegel single, an Anderson walk, and a Jordan Eads single made the bases loaded. A wild pitch and Cougar error allowed both Kriegel and Anderson to score, cutting the lead to just one run, but the RedTails couldn't capitalize on the opportunity, losing the game 8-7.
At the plate, the RedTails were led by Kriegel who went 2-3 with three runs scored. Bridgewater added two hits and one run scored.
On the mound, Lillian McCarty took the loss, going 1.1 innings, giving up four hits, seven earned runs, and seven walks. Adelyn Sienknecht finished the game, going 4.2 innings, giving up three hits, one earned run, one walk, and one strikeout.
Game 2: MAC (3) HCC (1)
The game with Mineral Area was a pitchers dual until the end. Through the fourth inning, there were just three hits between the two teams.
The RedTails scored their sole run in the top of the fifth inning. Anderson started the inning with a single, and Keira Rathjen laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Anderson to third. Olivia Techam put the ball in play and forced a fielder's choice situation, making both runners safe. Rylie Devlin was hit by a pitch to load the bases. The Cardinal catcher threw behind to second, getting Techam in a rundown, allowing Anderson to score during the play, putting the RedTails up 1-0.
MAC didn't let up, in the bottom of the sixth, they started with a triple, but were thrown out at home on an attempted squeeze bunt. The Cardinals then singled and walked to load the bases, and a clutch hit from the Cardinals scored all three runners, giving MAC a 3-1 lead.
The RedTails couldn't string together any hits to score in the top of the seventh, handing them their second loss of the day in a close match up.
The RedTails were led by Alyvia Anderson at the plate, who went 2-3 with one run scored. Chamberlin had the other RedTail hit. Chamberlin took the loss on the mound, going six innings, giving up five hits, three earned runs, one walk, and seven strikeouts.