Hits were at a premium when Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn visited Hinton for a War Eagle Conference matchup June 7. The Blackhawks did a better job of making theirs count, however, and came away with a 5-1 victory.
Hinton got a two-out triple along with an error to take a 1-0 lead in the third inning. In the fourth, a single, followed by a home run increased the Blackhawks’ lead to 3-0. Leading 3-1 in the sixth inning, Hinton followed up a Hawk error with a double, a single and a sacrifice fly to tack on two more runs.
The seven hits from the Blackhawks were three more than HMS managed. Gracie Knobloch stroked a two-out single in the fourth and Delaney Murphy led off the fifth with a base hit. The Hawks posted their run in the sixth inning. Morgan Grooters got the inning started with a single but was forced out at second on Abby Otto’s ball to short. Otto went to second on Kinsey Schirmer’s groundout. Knobloch drew a walk with Otto advancing to third on a wild pitch. It was a single from Eliza Tewes that finally got HMS on the board with Otto coming home. In all, the Hawks left four runners on base. Hinton stranded just two in the game.
“Our bats didn’t come alive last night,” lamented HMS head coach Stephanie Brontad. “As a coach it was hard to watch as we have been hitting the ball well. Defensively we played well and Gracie had a good night on the mound. We need to get out of the L slump and get back to playing our game.”
Knobloch struck out seven and walked just one in her six innings of work. Three of the five Blackhawk runs were earned. The Hawks committed two errors and the Blackhawks one.
HMS 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 – 1
Hinton 0 0 1 2 0 2 x – 5