Hawk bats are quiet in softball loss to West Sioux
Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn needed its bats to produce in order keep up with West Sioux’s scoring. They didn’t, and the Falcons came away with an 11-1 softball win in five innings June 17 at Ireton. With the loss, HMS fell to 2-6 in the War Eagle Conference and 5-11 overall.
The Falcons had nine hits but it wasn’t as if they bludgeoned the Hawks into submission. There were also three HMS errors and several runners scored either on passed balls or wild pitches.
The Hawks recorded just two hits. One of them was an RBI single by Eliza Tewes in the second inning.
“The girls are struggling to pull out of the slump,” remarked HMS head coach Stephanie Bronstad. “We struggled at the bats and on defense tonight. We didn’t hit the ball like I thought we would.”
The Hawk second inning began with a walk to Gracie Knobloch. Kamryn Ebel reached on an error with Knobloch moving to second. Bailey VerHelst’s flyout to right field allowed Knobloch to take third and she scored on the Tewes single to center. Ebel wasn’t as fortunate, as she was thrown out at the plate.
In the third inning Abby Kunzman drew a one-out walk. Cadence Klein followed with a base hit. The runners advanced on Abby Otto’s sacrifice bunt before a walk to Knobloch filled the bases. A strikeout ended the threat. Kunzman walked again in the fifth. She stole second but was stranded there. HMS left five runners on base compared to seven for the Falcons.
Ebel got the pitching start but went just 1-1/3 inning. She yielded six runs (five earned) on three hits with two walks, a strikeout and a hit batter. Knobloch tossed the final 3-1/3 innings, allowing five runs on six hits. Three of the runs were earned. Knobloch struck out seven batters and walked four.
HMS 0 1 0 0 0 – 1
W. Sioux 2 5 1 1 2 – 11