WORTHINGTON - To have a chance at winning softball games, the Worthington Trojans need to hit.
After wilting at the plate in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday against visiting Waseca, the Trojans went right to work on offense in the second game. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t stop the Bluejays from racking up hit after hit.
The result was twin five-inning losses at the local Centennial Park, 11-0 and 17-7.
“I was disappointed in the way we swung the bats in the first game. I didn’t think they hit the way they can hit. And they came out and showed me how they’re supposed to hit in the second game,” WHS head coach Josh Wasmund said.
Senior Waseca pitcher Natalie Shifflett one-hit the Trojans in the first game, and though Shifflett was consistently around the plate, she didn’t possess overpowering stuff. Yet, Sydney Ponto had Worthington’s only hit in that game.
In the top of the first inning of second game, the Trojans went immediately to work. Leadoff hitter Megan Kluever belted a double down the leftfield line, Olivia Petersen followed with a single, and Katie Rogers singled right after that. A hard one-out single to centerfield by Brittin Fauskee and another base hit by Madison Neuberger kept runners moving. WHS scored three times in that inning.
Alas, Waseca hit well, too. The Bluejays scored 13 times off the WHS starting pitcher, Ponto, and added to their total when Erin Benz took over in the fourth inning. The run that invoked the 10-run rule was scored in the bottom of the fifth inning when two were out.
After it was all over, Wasmund hoped his team, now 1-10 on the season, received some confirmation about the right hitting approach.
“We gotta build on what we do well,” he said, saying that offense is the team’s best quality.
Worthington collected a total of 14 hits in the second game. Petersen was 3-for-3 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI. Morgan LeBrun was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI. Kourtney Bauman was 2-for-3. And Christina Shorter was 3-for-3 with two runs scored.
Waseca’s Michaela Groll, a senior catcher, was the hitting star in the first game. She crushed a two-out three-run home run off Benz in the first inning, then hit a two-out solo home run in the third inning. In the fourth, she missed a third round-tripper by inches and settled for a double.
Wasmund said his Trojans weren’t letting the ball reach them in the opener. Impatiently, they slapped at it and often pounded it into the ground.
“Until they get two strikes, I want them to look for the location,” Wasmund said. “They don’t have to swing at every ball until they get two strikes.”
R H E
Waseca 303 50 - 11 9 0
Worthington 000 00 - 0 1 2
R H E
Worthington 310 30 - 7 14 3
Waseca 157 31 - 17 17 1
