After falling behind early, Greencastle softball's pitching and
defense tightened up Saturday and let the offense take over. The Tiger Cubs
scored 11 unanswered runs to defeat Eminence 11-2.
After Eminence went up 2-0 in the first, GHS came back with a pair of runs of
their own.
Starting pitcher Hannah Spencer tossed perfect second and third innings
before giving way to freshman Briana Baker, who allowed only one base runner in
her four innings of work. Baker picked up the victory for GHS.
With the pitching taking care of business, the GHS offense cut loose in the
third and fourth innings, scoring five in the third and four in the fourth.
Veronica Sawyer led the Cubs' offense, going 3-for-4 with three RBI. Becca
Seahorn was 1-for-2 with three RBI.
Still, coach Dave Keller knows his team has room for improvement in the young
season.
"We'll take the win, but we didn't play our best," Keller said. "Eminence
made some good defensive plays that took us out of a couple of innings and then
we helped them with several baserunning mistakes".
Keller also expressed, though, how proud he is of the progress the program
has made in the last two seasons. GHS won one game two years ago and only five
last year. To be off to a 3-1 start is more than he could have asked for when he
took over the program last season.
"We have some things to work on, by all means, but wins at Greencastle have
been few the last couple of years so we are happy with the 'W,'" Kelelr said.
"For us to be 3-1 at this point is a big achievement, considering where we have
come from in the last 2 years.
"If I didn't see any positives in the game then I would be a little more
concerned but we did have a few bright spots," Keller continued. "We had a
couple of key hits in the in the first and third innings that drove in a couple
of runs that created the separation that we needed to win the game."
Keller is also extremely proud of his team's defense, which has committed
just four errors in four games.
"Our pitching and catching has been a strong point for us, so now if we can
get the bats going and eliminate our base running mistakes then I think we can
be pretty decent. But again, we are a young team and it's early so we have some
things we can work on at practice," Keller concluded.
The junior varsity really put on an offensive show, defeating Eminence 26-2.
At Greencastle
Eminence 200 000 0 -- 2 2 4
Greencastle 205 400 X -- 11 8 1
Spencer, Baker (4) and Alspaugh (GHS).
WP -- Baker (2-1)
LP -- Rief.
Next game -- Greencastle visits Terre Haute South at 5 p.m. today.