OHS Softball Completes First Week

The 2013 version of the O'Neill Eagles softball team kicked off the season with seven games last week.  They competed in the York Quad, against then #1 Wayne at home and finished up at the Wisner Tournament.  They came away with three wins and four losses and learned a lot about themselves and tough early-season competition.

The York Quad was played on Saturday, Aug. 24 as OHS opened up with York. The game was tough and competitive, but as would be the theme all day, the Eagle offense was quiet throughout.  They collected only two hits from Randi Pinkerman and Jessi Simons in the 4-0 loss.

Next up was Blair, who, like York, was a state tournament qualifier in Class B last year.  The game was not close, with OHS again collecting only two hits, this time from Marisa Miles and Breanna Jakubowski.  The defense committed three errors and Blair came away with an 11-0 win. In the third game of the day, OHS faced a tough Fillmore Central squad and again the offense sputtered. The Eagles did manage a rally late on consecutive hits from Miles, Libi Slack and Jean Zakrzewski, but still came away the a 6-0 loss.  

On Tuesday the Eagles hosted Wayne at Carney Park.  Coming off the tough games in York, OHS was ready to compete and try to get on a winning track. Both teams were held in check by great pitching and defense until the fourth inning when Wayne broke through for a run.  They followed that up in the sixth inning with two more on a two-out double and left O'Neill trailing by three and down to their last at-bat. Simons and Erin Boyle led off the bottom of the seventh with consecutive singles.  Shelby Heiser followed them with a double to right center that scored Simons. Ariel Lichty then drove in Boyle and Heiser with a long single to the same spot in the outfield. Miles bunted her way to first and was followed by another great sacrifice bunt from Slack. Wayne than threw a wild pitch which scored pinch-runner Makayla Pardun for the winning run. Simons threw the complete game, allowing only four hits and striking out four.  Alex Atkins and Pinkerman led the defense with three assists each.

On Saturday, OHS again went on the road, this time to the Wisner Tournament.  Their first opponent was Central City. The Eagles started fast and never looked back, coming away with a 13-3 win. Pinkerman, Boyle and Heiser all had multi-hit games and the Eagles pounded out 13 hits in 31 at-bats. Simons struck out ten in the game and walked only one.

OHS then faced undefeated Pierce.  The bats went quiet in this one, as they could only manage  three hits.  Simons again struck out ten and didn't walk a batter and allowed only five hits in the 3-0 loss.  

The last game of the day saw the Eagles facing host team Wisner.  They took advantage of everything Wisner gave them and came away with a 6-3 win. Zakrzewski had two hits in the game and Pinkerman scored three runs. Also collecting hits in the game were Ariana Dugan, Lichty, Simons and Boyle. Simons and catcher Slack combined to strike out nine and walk only two.

Next action for the Eagles was Tuesday, Sept. 3 when they hosted  Wisner-Pilger in junior varsity and varsity games and Thursday, Sept. 5 when they travel to Pierce.