Emporia Energy U-12s place 2nd with 2-2 record at home tourney
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
The 12-and-under Emporia Energy softball team took second in its double round-robin tournament on Saturday. The Energy finished with a 2-2 record.
Emporia’s two wins came against the Topeka Blaze by scores of 8-2 and 9-0. The team’s losses both came to the Chase County Explosion, 9-1 and 6-0.
Emporia faced Chase County twice on Saturday and never could mount an attack to match the Explosion. In the teams’ first matchup, Amanda Crone scored the lone run on a hit by Paige Turney.
Emily Giffin took the loss for the Energy in the pitching circle. Crone and Alix Boulanger also saw time pitching in Game One.
In the second matchup against Chase County, Emporia managed just one hit, again by Turney. Crone was in the circle for Game Two.
Emporia did find some momentum in both of its games against the Topeka Blaze. Ashley Jackson went 2-for-2 and scored three runs, while Giffin, Crone, Kate Decker, Brooke Perry and Lexie Herb each scored a run. In the Energy’s final game against the Blaze, those five players again scored at least one run each, while Katie Weiser, Allie Belford and Turney added a run as well.
Giffin was credited with the shutout.
The Energy (12-7) will have its next action in the Mike’s Sporting Goods tournament hosted in Emporia on June 21 and 22.
U-14 Energy goes 1-4 in Diamond Classic
The U-14 Emporia Energy softball team got off to a rough start on Saturday in the Emporia Energy Diamond Classic, as the team lost its first three games before finishing the weekend 1-4.
The first three losses came against the Lady Slayers, Quest, and the Salina Rebels. Emporia was only able to manage two hits, and the pitching seemed to struggle as well.
On Sunday morning, Emporia came away with a 6-5 victory in Game One against the Osawatomie Savages.
Kandice Schreiner’s pitching effort led the team, as she recorded eight strikeouts.
The U-14 defensive cast did a solid job of supporting her. Emily Samuels, at catcher, threw out a runner at third base. Third baseman Megann Olsson also caught a line drive, and another line drive that was hit back to the pitcher was knocked down and thrown to first baseman Allie Lanzrath, who assisted in closing the door on the Savages’ scoring opportunity.
Offensively, the Energy started out with a base hit by Alice Tunks-Jones. After stealing second and third, she was brought in by a Samuels hit.
Morgan Nail, after getting hit by a pitch in the top of the third, was able to capitalize by stealing second and third and was brought home by an Amanda Belford hit. After scoring two more in the fourth, the game went into extra innings, with the Energy pulling out the win with Lanzrath scoring on a Schreiner double.
Schreiner later scored on an Olsson single.
The Energy fell 6-4 in its final game, but not before scoring three runs in its half of the last inning.
Schreiner’s pitching started out strong with Jordon Kiser coming in to close the game.
Nail and Amber Mechtley came up with big defensive plays, and Janet Weaver and Aysia Paige were keys on the defensive side as well.
Offensively, in the first inning, Belford scored on a Lanzrath single.
The Energy led the game until the top of the fourth, when the Rockets jumped to a 2-1 lead and added four more runs in the top of the fifth inning to make the score 6-1.
Energy fought back to within two with a rally in the bottom of the fifth. Nail started the rally off with a line drive to second that was bobbled, which allowed Nail to make it safely to first. That was followed up with solid hit by Belford to put runners on first and second.
Nail and Belford advanced on steals and scored on a triple by Lanzrath to make the score 6-3. Lanzrath then scored the final run of the game by stealing home.