Softball openers a split for Pontiac teams
NORMAL — Pontiac got off to a good start but host Normal (Parkside) had an even better beginning to their junior high softball game Thursday. The host Pythons rolled past the Warriors 12-2.
Five straight Pontiac batters reached base with one out to grab a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Kenzie Fetgatter started the surge with an infield base hit and Carley Schneeman and Kira Johnson each singled to load the bases.
Fetgatter scored the game's (and season's) first run for the Warriors when she was forced home on a walk to Brinlee Dearth. Celi Serna then singled to drive in Schneeman and keep the bases loaded.
A pair of strikeouts ended the inning and the threat.
Parkside scored five runs in the last of the first and led the rest of the way.
Pontiac threatened in the second as the first two runners reached but a groundout and two fielder's choice plays where the runner was thrown out at home ended the rally hopes of the Warriors.
Seven of the final nine Pontiac batters were retired before Parkside ended the game in the last of the fifth.
Serna had a base hit and drove in a run while Fetgatter, Schneeman, Johnson, Ava Metz and Kennedy Abraham each singled. Dearth also drove in a run.
Johnson took the loss in the circle after giving up five runs in the first inning. She yielded four hits and two walks while striking out three. Natalie Taylor gave up four runs and walked six in a third of an inning and Abraham finished up, giving up three runs on four hits and three walks while striking out three.
St. Mary's 13, Dwight 0
DWIGHT — St. Mary's opened the 2022-23 junior sports season with a 13-0 victory over Dwight in softball play on Wednesday.
The Saints got on the board in the top of the first inning, which was really enough for hurlers Bevin Brummel and Payton Rogers, who combined to toss a one-hitter in the six-inning contest.
Brummel led off the game with a base hit and, with one out, stole second before scoring on a base knock from McKenna Woodcock.
Brummel allowed a base hit to the first Dwight batter she faced, and then retired the next three batters. She allowed a walk to the leadoff batter in the last of the second before setting down the next three Redbirds. This started a string of retiring eight straight batters before a two-out walk in the fourth.
Rogers retired the Dwight side in order in the fifth and faced a slight jam in the sixth with a leadoff walk and a free pass with two outs. A pop fly ended the game.
By the time Rogers got the ball, the Saints had built a comfortable advantage with three runs in the third inning and three more in the fourth for a 7-0 lead. SMS added two runs in the fifth inning and put the game away with four markers in the top of the sixth frame.
Neveah Vogt led the St. Mary's (1-0) offense with two hits and four runs batted in. Woodcock and Izzy Hinz each had two hits and a run batted in while Rogers collected two doubles. Courtney Krause had a hit and RBI and Brummel and Alexis Legner each singled. Harper Francis drove in a run.
Brummel got the win in the circle. She allowed one hit and walked two while striking out five in four innings. Rogers walked two and fanned three in finishing up.
This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: Pontiac, St. Mary's open junior high softball campaigns
