WHS softball: Marshall sweeps Trojans in doubleheader

WORTHINGTON -- For their first softball doubleheader of the season, the Worthington Trojans learned that they need to work on their staying-power.
Marshall came to town on Tuesday and swept the Trojans, 5-3 in seven innings and 15-0 in four. The first game was well-played. The second game, not so much.
Head coach Rosalie Hayenga-Hostikka chalked it up, partially at least, the length of the Trojans’ afternoon. They started at 4:30 and finished at 7:30, and it appeared after falling behind in the second game that the players lost their focus at times.
They appeared physically tired, and perhaps more than that, mentally tired.
“I had them down for only two or three earned runs. We had times when we should’ve been out of the inning, and then it just snowballed,” Hayenga-Hostikka said of the second game, which the Tigers ended prematurely with a nine-run bottom of the fourth.
The opener, however, was much different. Deadlocked at 3-3 after four innings, MHS scored a run in the top of the sixth inning and another in the top of the seventh to account for the final score.
Marshall’s Shelby Versaevel belted the first pitch of the fourth inning from Worthington starter Sydney Ponto over the center field fence, and Katelyn Schauer scored in the same inning after doubling to give her team a 3-2 lead. Worthington evened the score in the bottom of the fourth in a one-out home run by Cindy Morales Leyva.
Marshall took the lead for good on a two-out WHS error, then added insurance in the seventh on an RBI by Sydney Mauch -- which came after Trojans left fielder Jasmine Williams made an outstanding catch of a line drive.
In the second game, Marshall pitcher Madison Wegner held the Trojans scoreless on a one-hitter. Meanwhile, the Tigers broke the game open in the fourth, helped by two Worthington errors, a bases-loaded walk and a grand slam home run by Mauch.
Ponto threw the complete seven innings in the first game and most of the second, until relieved by Ashlyn Rosenberg with one out in the fourth. Brooklyn Sukalski pitched the first four innings for Marshall in the first game, with Wegner coming on in the fifth to pick up the win. Wegner went the full four in the nightcap.
The sweep advanced Marshall’s season record to 4-2 while dropping Worthington to 3-3. Despite Morales Leyva’s impressive clout in the first game, the Trojans’ bats were not sharp. They had just four hits in the two games.
“We have, and we still will be (working on hitting),” said Hayenga-Hostikka, saying the players are encouraged to be patient at the plate and take good swings.
“We have a lot of bad habits we need to break,” she said.
Marshall 100 201 1 -- 5 8 0
Worthington 002 100 0 -- 3 3 2
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Worthington 000 0 -- 0 1 4
Marshall 132 9 -- 15 14 0