Northeast stays hot, downs Camanche 10-1
Jun. 14—CAMANCHE — The Northeast softball team continued to roll on Monday night as they took down their local rival Camanche 10-1 to sweep them on the season.
Neither team found much of an offensive presence in the first inning but Northeasts Leah Mangelsen got the scoring started in the second inning with a solo home run to give the Rebels an early lead.
The Rebels used a leadoff walk followed by a single to get things started in the fourth inning. Emma Kjergaard doubled to score a run and extend the lead. Aubrey Kroymann added to it with a double of her own to make it a 4-0 ball game.
"They just made an adjustment. Sometimes you struggle with slower pitching. Once they started staying back and through the ball, good things started happening." Head coach Travis Eversmeyer said.
The Storm continued to struggle offensively, struggling to take advantage of runners in scoring position due to the good Rebel defense.
A pair of base hits in the top of the fifth put two on with two outs for the Rebels. Piper Isbell singled up the middle to make it a five run game. Kjergaard double again to put the Rebels up 6-0 going into the bottom half of the inning.
The pitching dominance by Madison Kluever continued in this game as she was getting out of trouble with ease all game long. She and her defense made it look easy as they were shutting down the Storm offense.
"Our defense is really good behind her too. She knows she can put it in the zone and if they hit it they're going to make a play for her." Eversmeyer said.
Neither team found much of a stride in the sixth inning and it was a 6-0 game heading into the final inning.
In the top of the seventh, Magelsen got herself another solo home run to start the inning and extend the Rebels lead.
"Off of two different pitchers, that's telling you she is seeing the ball really well, she knows what her pitch is and she's getting into positive counts and driving it." Eversmeyer said.
The Rebels weren't done there as the entire lineup kept it going, scoring another run on a drop third strike. Brynnlin Kroymann singled in two more runs to extend the lead to 10-0 heading into the final half of the inning.
"They've been big all year. I think the bottom is coming around to a little bit. I think we're pretty balanced now one through nine and we're starting to figure things out." Eversmeyer said.
The Rebels gave up one run in the bottom of the seventh but handled business in the seventh to pick up the big 10-1 victory.
"I think we're clicking and we're looking forward to being a little bit better every single day." Eversmeyer said.
The Rebels are back in action Tuesday night as they host West Liberty at 7 p.m. The Storm return to the diamond as well on Tuesday, hosting Regina Catholic at 7 p.m.
