By Grant Barrett, Ad Astra Radio
McPHERSON, Kan. – On a beautiful day at Grant Complex, the McPherson High Softball team was able to improve to 5-1 on the season with a 7-0 win over the Buhler Crusaders, for Game 2 of their home-and-home series.
Addie Herrera would get the start in the circle for McPherson where she was dominant, giving up just three hits and a walk, while completing seven scoreless innings. “She has a really good screw and a curve, we use those quite a bit, and she was really consistent.”
At the plate, the Bullpups would open with four runs in the bottom of the first, highlighted by an RBI triple from Kelcy Bergstrom. Coach Fitzmorris was pleased with the way her team started, saying. “I thought they came out on fire, and then we got really in front of the ball, and were reaching for it.”
Chloe Clevenger, Sayge Salmans and Ava Romero both had two or more hits. Romero and Reanna Eilrich both drove in two RBI’s. Following the game Coach Fitzmorris credited Salmans’ improvement early on in the season, saying,
“Sayge has been really consistent at the plate, she has done a really nice job of listening in practice and has really cleaned her swing up.”
Although the Pups weren’t as productive at the plate as in their 18-0 win in Game 1 two weeks ago, Fitzmorris mentioned a couple of adjustments to the lineup, saying, “It’s just nice to move some kids around to see what flexibility you have when you get to games that you know you’re going to need something different.” she added, “I saw some good things, I saw some things I probably won’t do again, but overall it was good.”
Following the game, Fitzmorris talked about the upcoming opponents, saying, “As we’re approaching the middle part of the season, we have a lot tougher teams. Most are out of 4A level, we’re playing 5 and 6A teams which doesn’t do great things for the win/loss record, but it does prepare you when you’ve got to battle tough teams.”
Coach Fitzmorris concluded by saying, “I’m looking forward to it, and I think we have what it takes to win some of those, we’re just going to have to play our ‘A’ game and make sure our defense is good and we battle in the box.”
Following the win, the Bullpup Softball team moves to 5-1 on the season. They will return to action Tuesday, at Grant Complex for a triangular that includes Liberal and Maize. Games are scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.
Batting:
C. Clevenger 3-4 R
K. Bergstrom 1-4 RBI, R
R. Eilrich 0-4, 2 RBIs
C. Pavlovich 0-1, BB
H. Hagemann 1-2, R
S. Salmans 3-3, RBI, R
Av. Romero 2-2, 2 RBIs
K. Alvord 1-2
O. Cheatham 0-3, RBI
J. Fitzmorris 0-3
Al. Romero 0-1
A. Chapman 1-1
Pitching:
A. Herrera 7.0 IP 3H 0R 0 ER 1BB 5SO
