Going into tonight’s game against Omaha North, the varsity softball team looks to earn three straight sweeps against Omaha Public Schools teams this week. The girls beat Omaha Benson 12-0 on Monday and Omaha Bryan 12-0 on Tuesday. They play the Vikings in an away game tonight at 4:30 p.m.
On Tuesday night, sophomore Kendall Johnson pitched for two innings, keeping the Bears at zero runs. Following Johnson, sophomore Kate Gudenrath was brought in to finish off the game.
“When I’m pitching, a lot of stuff goes through my mind, like I need to hit my spots, what pitches the hitter wants and what they aren’t good at,” Gudenrath said. “But I always know that my defense has my back.”
Stolen bases from junior Faith Cudly, sophomore Morgan TenBensel and sophomore Ellyana Burson gave the Griffins an even higher lead in the game. Scoring three runs, freshman Ryland Anderson led the team in the most amount of runs for the night against the Bears.
Monday’s game against the Bunnies was a repeat experience for the Griffins. Earlier this month they beat Benson 14-0. Both games ended with the mercy rule in the third inning because East had a large and presumably insurmountable scoring lead over the Bunnies, leaving Benson 3-10 on the season.
Contributing to Monday night’s quick victory, starting pitcher Johnson pitched a shutout in the game’s first two innings, striking out Benson’s players every at-bat.
“I felt pretty good about it,” Johnson said. “Being able to get the ball both innings and having my team depend on me for a while is a really amazing opportunity.”
After the top of the first inning, nine runs were scored by the Griffins. With a direct hit from sophomore Amelia Fliege, freshman Aubrey Horst scored the second run for the team.
“The support we have as a whole, whether it’s from teammates, parents, coaches, etc… is part of what makes for such a convivial environment and I think it’s part of what creates that game day feeling,” Fliege said.
After multiple walks, sophomore Haidyn Cleveland hit out to center field and brought in sophomore Emerson Husen and freshman Sadie Feak to score two more points.
Freshman Kaylin Hinerman scored one more run, then Anderson struck out, leaving her the final out of the inning.
Striking out three more girls back to back, Johnson went three up, three down and sailed right into the bottom of the second inning keeping the score at 9-0.
Walks from Feak, Gudenrath, and Burson left the bases loaded. Hinerman got a base hit and Feak scored the first point of the second inning, putting them up by 12 runs.
Benson’s pitcher walked sophomore Addi Shannon which put Gudenrath in a position to score with Burson right behind her.
“It’s really fun especially when we are up by a lot, because all of the girls are just so hype and the game is more relaxed,” Gudenrath said.
In the last inning of the game, Gudenrath came in to pitch for Johnson. She struck out two of Benson’s players, one after another. Benson’s third at-bat hit to third baseman Burson who couldn’t finish the play to first baseman Cudly, allowing the Bunnies’ hitter on first base. To finish the game, pitcher Gudenrath struck out the final hitter, ending the game 12-0, another win for the varsity team.
