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Crestview softball nips Springfield

NEW WATERFORD — The Crestview Rebels are counting on pitching and defense to carry them this year in the softball season.

They fully utilized those strengths Saturday with an edge-of-your-seat 2-1 victory over Springfield in non-conference action.

The Rebels’ junior pitcher Kaedyn Sutton picked up the win to improve the Rebels to 8-4. Madi Lesnak was the hard-luck loser as the Tigers dropped to 4-4-1. Lesnak gave up only one hit in the contest.

“Kaedyn has been strong all season in the circle,” Crestview coach Greg Eskra said. “We feel we have a chance anytime she is out there. She’s our one. We just need to limit our errors. You can’t give a good team extra outs.

“We feel as long as we can get one run, Kaedyn can hold her end down. We are going to ride her back as far as we can. Brooke Brubaker is a freshman, and McKenna Schultz is our number two, so between them they are our next two pitchers.”

“We have a really young team,” Springfield coach Dan McKinstry said. “We only have two girls that have played in a high school game, and we are struggling at the plate against good pitching because they are just not confident enough yet to trust counts and trust themselves. They don’t want to strike out, so they swing.”

The Rebels got all the runs they needed in the first inning when junior catcher Karsyn Moore blasted a two-out, two-run home run over the left-center field fence. Sutton made those runs hold up in a complete-game victory. After setting the Rebels’ record for strikeouts in a game (17) earlier in the week, she recorded eight Ks while only walking four on Saturday.

“I owe a lot to my catcher; she’s my sister. She keeps me in the game and frames all of my pitches,” Sutton said. “And my defense, they really came in clutch today keeping them to just one run. Karsyn hit that home run and that was all we needed.”

Moore’s home run came on an 0-2 pitch.

“She said she threw a drop curve and the ball was way outside and the girl (Moore) reached out and hit it,” McKinstry said about the homer. “I don’t know if it was that outside as we thought it was, but it was an 0-2 pitch and we tried to throw the ball out away and she reached out and got a good hit.

“But she never should have come to bat in the inning, because we dropped a fly ball the play before.”

Moore is the Rebels’ cleanup hitter.

“Karsyn has been struggling at the plate a little bit, so it was nice to see her finally get ahold of one,” Eskra said. “She is our four-hitter, so we need a lot of production out of her. The whole team, we have been getting our hits, but we just aren’t stringing them back-to-back-to-back. It’s one of our weak spots.”

The Tigers had a chance to tie the game in the top of the seventh when senior Abby Joseph beat out an infield hit with one out and advanced to second on a ground out. A wild pitch allowed Joseph to move to third, but Sutton struck out her mound opponent Lesnak to seal the win.

“She was having problems locating her pitches,” Eskra said of Sutton in the final two innings. “I told her when she went out for the seventh inning that she was going to have to win this one herself. She did.”

Sutton went out with confidence in the final inning.

“Just shut them down,” Sutton said of her mindset in the seventh. “You’re not going to get a hit off of me. Then I had to rely on my defense and Karsyn to keep me content and come out with the win.”

The Tigers scored their lone run in the fifth inning when senior Carlee Bacon singled to right, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and came around to score on an errant throw when Bacon tried to take third on the sacrifice.

“We had some opportunities,” McKinstry said. “One girl (Emily Gerthung) hit two shots and had nothing to show for it. Next time she may hit the ball from me to you and get a base hit. It is what it is. We’re getting better. It was a loss, but we will take some positives away.”

The Tigers will try to bounce back in their next game on Monday when they travel to Waterloo in MVAC Scarlet Tier play. The Rebels will also play on Monday when they host the LaBrae Vikings In MVAC Gray Tier action.

Crestview softball nips Springfield

NEW WATERFORD — The Crestview Rebels are counting on pitching and defense to carry them this year in the softball season.

They fully utilized those strengths Saturday with an edge-of-your-seat 2-1 victory over Springfield in non-conference action.

The Rebels’ junior pitcher Kaedyn Sutton picked up the win to improve the Rebels to 8-4. Madi Lesnak was the hard-luck loser as the Tigers dropped to 4-4-1. Lesnak gave up only one hit in the contest.

“Kaedyn has been strong all season in the circle,” Crestview coach Greg Eskra said. “We feel we have a chance anytime she is out there. She’s our one. We just need to limit our errors. You can’t give a good team extra outs.

“We feel as long as we can get one run, Kaedyn can hold her end down. We are going to ride her back as far as we can. Brooke Brubaker is a freshman, and McKenna Schultz is our number two, so between them they are our next two pitchers.”

“We have a really young team,” Springfield coach Dan McKinstry said. “We only have two girls that have played in a high school game, and we are struggling at the plate against good pitching because they are just not confident enough yet to trust counts and trust themselves. They don’t want to strike out, so they swing.”

The Rebels got all the runs they needed in the first inning when junior catcher Karsyn Moore blasted a two-out, two-run home run over the left-center field fence. Sutton made those runs hold up in a complete-game victory. After setting the Rebels’ record for strikeouts in a game (17) earlier in the week, she recorded eight Ks while only walking four on Saturday.

“I owe a lot to my catcher; she’s my sister. She keeps me in the game and frames all of my pitches,” Sutton said. “And my defense, they really came in clutch today keeping them to just one run. Karsyn hit that home run and that was all we needed.”

Moore’s home run came on an 0-2 pitch.

“She said she threw a drop curve and the ball was way outside and the girl (Moore) reached out and hit it,” McKinstry said about the homer. “I don’t know if it was that outside as we thought it was, but it was an 0-2 pitch and we tried to throw the ball out away and she reached out and got a good hit.

“But she never should have come to bat in the inning, because we dropped a fly ball the play before.”

Moore is the Rebels’ cleanup hitter.

“Karsyn has been struggling at the plate a little bit, so it was nice to see her finally get ahold of one,” Eskra said. “She is our four-hitter, so we need a lot of production out of her. The whole team, we have been getting our hits, but we just aren’t stringing them back-to-back-to-back. It’s one of our weak spots.”

The Tigers had a chance to tie the game in the top of the seventh when senior Abby Joseph beat out an infield hit with one out and advanced to second on a ground out. A wild pitch allowed Joseph to move to third, but Sutton struck out her mound opponent Lesnak to seal the win.

“She was having problems locating her pitches,” Eskra said of Sutton in the final two innings. “I told her when she went out for the seventh inning that she was going to have to win this one herself. She did.”

Sutton went out with confidence in the final inning.

“Just shut them down,” Sutton said of her mindset in the seventh. “You’re not going to get a hit off of me. Then I had to rely on my defense and Karsyn to keep me content and come out with the win.”

The Tigers scored their lone run in the fifth inning when senior Carlee Bacon singled to right, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and came around to score on an errant throw when Bacon tried to take third on the sacrifice.

“We had some opportunities,” McKinstry said. “One girl (Emily Gerthung) hit two shots and had nothing to show for it. Next time she may hit the ball from me to you and get a base hit. It is what it is. We’re getting better. It was a loss, but we will take some positives away.”

The Tigers will try to bounce back in their next game on Monday when they travel to Waterloo in MVAC Scarlet Tier play. The Rebels will also play on Monday when they host the LaBrae Vikings In MVAC Gray Tier action.

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