Bats come back to life as Hawks split two games at South O’Brien Tourney
Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn recovered well enough from a batting slump to gain a split of two games at the South O’Brien Softball Tournament held July 11 at Paullina’s Swanson Sports Complex. The Hawks lost their opening game to Ridge View in six innings by the score of 9-5. They came back to rout South O’Brien in the consolation game 12-0 in four innings. That win boosted their season record to 5-7. Sioux Central had earlier downed the Wolverines 10-7. The championship game went to Ridge View, 6-0 over the Rebels.
Ridge View 9, HMS 5
HMS was chasing the Raptors for most of the contest but never gave up the fight. Ridge View scored a run in the first that was answered by the Hawks in the third. Eliza Tewes singled and was sacrificed to second by Kamryn Ebel. She scored on Kinsey Schirmer’s two-out base hit.
The Raptors put four runs on the board in the bottom of the third. HMS responded by scoring twice in the fourth. Abby Otto singled and took second on a passed ball. Bailey VerHelst followed with a walk and Frankie Mohni entered to run for her. A single off the bat of Meghan Larson drove in Otto and Mohni took third on the throw. Ebel grounded out to first but got an RBI as Mohni scored on the play.
An unearned run by the Raptors in the fourth upped their lead to 6-3. The Hawks had one more answer in them. Schirmer and Gracie Knobloch drew walks to start off the bottom of the fifth. Another two-out base hit, this time a double by Larson, plated both of the baserunners.
Ridge View tacked on three insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth. Due to the time limit, the HMS bats had just one more crack at the Raptors in the sixth but could muster only a single by Ebel.
The seven Hawk hits included a single by Abby Kunzman in the first. HMS stranded five runners while the Raptors left just two on base.
In her five innings of work, pitcher Gracie Knobloch allowed nine runs on nine hits. Seven of the runs were earned. She fanned three batters, walked three and hit another. There were two Hawk errors.
“The girls played well and battled hard,” noted HMS head coach Stephanie Bronstad. “We had a few bobbles and errors that would have kept the game closer. Gracie pitched a good game.”
HMS 0 0 1 2 2 0 – 5
R. View 1 0 4 1 3 – 9
HMS 12, South O’Brien 0
The Hawks scored 11 runs in the third inning to back the two-hit pitching of Kamryn Ebel in the win over the Wolverines. Ebel fanned two batters in her four innings of work to equal the number of walks issued. She also hit a batter.
HMS played error-free ball. Left fielder Abby Kunzman threw out a runner at third and appeared to make a spectacular diving grab that was ruled no catch by the umpires.
The Hawks totaled nine hits. Gracie Knobloch went 2-for-3 with two RBI’s and a run scored. Cadence Klein had a run-scoring single and got an RBI on a fielder’s choice, after which she came around to score. Kunzman delivered a two-run single, walked and scored two runs.
Kinsey Schirmer had an RBI single and scored and also walked and scored. Meghan Larson scored two runs as well. She reached on an error and followed that up with an RBI single. Delaney Murphy scored after hitting her RBI single. Eliza Tewes recorded a bunt single and also drew a walk. She scored both times. Abby Otto singled and walked, scoring after the latter. HMS left three runners on base and South O’Brien four.
“Great day for Hawks softball,” exclaimed Bronstad. “The girls came to play and the bats were on fire! Defensively we played well and it was good to see the girls play well.”
HMS 0 0 11 1 – 12
S. O’Brien 0 0 0 0 – 0