PHS Softball
Pierce Competes at O’Neill Tourney
By Brody Knox
Saturday, September 20, the Pierce Bluejays took a trip to O'Neill for a softball tournament. Trying their hardest, the Bluejays left with two losses and one win added to their belt.
The first game was the Pierce Bluejays against the Central City Bison with a score of 16-4.
In the first inning, Pierce scored three runs, after a home run by Athena Bretschneider while Central City scored nine.
During the second, the Bison made another seven runs, keeping the Bluejays back from scoring any.
Ending the game in the third, Pierce scored one run, while Central City scored none, with the score being 16-4.
In the second game, Pierce played the Ord Chanticleers, defeating them with a score of 19-6.
In the first inning, the Bluejays made seven runs, while Ord scored one.
During the second inning, the Chanticleers held the Bluejays back, not allowing any runs to be made while Ord scored another three.
In the third inning, Pierce fought back and touched home four times, while Ord snuck only two, bringing the board to 11-6 in favor of the Bluejays.
Battling through the fourth, Pierce made yet another three runs, holding Ord back from scoring, ending the inning.
Still battling, the fifth inning ended with Pierce making five runs while preventing Ord from scoring any points. Finishing the game, the Pierce Bluejays defeated the Ord Chanticleers with a score of 19-6.
Senior pitcher Kylie Dvorak had seven strikeouts during the game.
“I think we that we could always be improving. I think that kind of by the end of the tournament, we’re just kind of out of energy and were not playing to our best potential. But I think during the Ord game, we kind of showed bits and pieces of who we are as a team,” sophomore Kaelyn Halsey states.
In the final game against the O'Neill Eagles, things took a turn for the worse.
In the first inning, the Eagles snuck two runs in while the Bluejays were not able to get any. In the second inning, both teams held each other back, ending the inning with no runs on either side.
The third inning proved to be the problem for the Bluejays as, once again, the Eagles scored, bringing the board to 11-0 with nine runs.
Finishing the game, the fourth inning was shut down with the Bluejays not being able to make any runs.
“We need to focus on bringing energy to our games and making routine plays and focus on bringing work from practice into the games, just really focus on the small things that make us win the games,” Dvorak states.
The Bluejays Battled Their Hardest, Carrying The Game into Overtime and Ending Up Shy of The Win
By Skyler Stern
The Pierce Bluejays went down to Aquinas on Thursday, September 18 and put up a fight all night. Even though the final score was in favor of Aquinas, 14-12, the Bluejays still battled their hardest.
On the offensive side of things, the Bluejays were on fire, scoring a lot of runs. Savannah Beutler hit a triple while also scoring two runs. Contributing to the score, Athena Bretschneider smacked two doubles and also added a run to the score. Evelyn Skrdla and Kylie Dvorak both knocked doubles and crossed the plate once. Jessa Kraft and Kaelyn Halsey both hit doubles and scored two runs. Finally, Kinley Hilkemann chipped in with two runs, and Eleanor Bauermeister added a run to the final score.
The girls showed resilience in battling back from an early 7-1 deficit against Aquinas. “We dug ourselves into a hole with some early errors in the field and not being able to get the bats rolling,” head coach Grant King remarks. “However, we slowly climbed our way back and forced the game into extra innings. It was great to see from the girls!”
For the defense, the Bluejays kept the pressure on, holding Aquinas to a 12-12 tie through the seventh inning, carrying the game into another inning. Dvorak had four strikeouts while Halsey had two strikeouts. Despite their strong effort, the Bluejays ended up coming just shy of the win.
“I think we are doing okay. We all need to realize that we need to start with energy and be ready to show up and perform,” Dvorak comments about what the team needs to focus on during the games.
Softball Swings Into a Triangular at Wayne
By Rylee Altwine
Flying to Wayne, the softball team took on the Wayne Blue Devils and the Boone Central Cardinals in a triangular on Tuesday, September 16.
The first game the Bluejays played was against the Cardinals.
Keeping up with the Cardinals, the Bluejays kept a tight score in the first inning, trailing the Cardinals 3-2. Soaring into the second inning, the Cardinals were too fast for the Jays, scoring five more runs, along with the Lady Jays scoring two runs, with a score of 8-4.
Pierce scored three points in the third inning while Boone Central scored two runs, making the score 10-7. Putting a stop to the Cardinals, the Bluejays did not allow anyone to touch home plate in the fourth inning.Both teams played good defense in the fifth inning, throwing zero points on the scoreboard, to close out the game with an ending score of 10-7 in the Cardinals' favor.
“I had some good areas when performing, such as my hitting, but on Tuesday, I struggled with fielding,” junior Evelyn Skrdla states.
In the final game of the night, Pierce played the Wayne Blue Devils. In the first inning, the Bluejays let one runner score on a lone home run for the Blue Devils. In the second inning, Pierce scored one run and did not allow Wayne to score. With a score of 1-1 sliding through the next four innings, both teams protected home plate so well nobody scored. In the seventh inning, the Bluejays remained scoreless, but at the bottom of the inning, Wayne hit a 2-run homerun, ending the game with a 3-1 score, resulting in a loss for Pierce.
“I think that my defense was good in the outfield, and our team defense was pretty good as a whole. I would like to improve on my batting,” freshman Eleanor Bauermeister stated.
