The Emporia Energy U-18 squad battled back from a loss in its only Saturday game to go 2-1 on Sunday to conclude the Mike’s Summer Slam softball tournament at Trusler Sports Complex. The 2-2 overall showing earned the Energy a third-place finish out of seven U-18 squads.
Saturday’s rain abbreviated and forced some Sunday rescheduling for the tournament. The Energy and the Wichita Shox got a game in Saturday morning before the weather halted action at Trusler, but the Energy couldn’t get its bats going, getting shut out 2-0.
Returning to action on Sunday, the Energy got the same result in its game against the Chapman Sizzlers, losing by the same 2-0 score. In its third game, Emporia finally got its offense to come alive, defeating the Havoc by a final of 8-5. Natalie Dees singled and doubled for the Energy, and Lenae Wells added two more hits, both singles.
The Energy ended its tournament with a 5-1 victory over the Quiet Thunder, in which Emporia took advantage of five Thunder errors.
Before Saturday’s rain hit, the U-18 tournament was scheduled to consist of a round-robin, with each team playing six games before the top two teams played for the title on Sunday.
U-16 goes 0-3
The Energy U-16 team had a tough time mustering offense during its three games at Mike’s Summer Slam, going 0-3 and putting together just two runs during the tournament.
The Energy dropped its first game to the Hays Lady Larks 10-1, got shut out 8-0 by Aces Fastpitch, then lost 9-1 to the Newton Railers. The Energy managed just six hits over the three games. Kaitlyn Rumold collected two hits in four trips to the plate, Jennifer Alfaro went 2-for-5 with a walk, Megan Albertson went 1-for-3 and Janet Weaver went 1-for-2 with a walk.
Acting coach Ron Olsson cited three defensive bright spots for the Energy. Megann Olsson made an over-the-shoulder catch on a line drive to left center field during the Energy’s first game Saturday, which was stopped short by rain. In the game against the Aces, third baseman Jennifer Alfaro charged in to field a bunted popup, made a diving catch and threw to first to double off a runner. In the third game, with a runner on first, second baseman Michala Shaklee dove to haul in a ground ball, tagged the runner and threw to first to complete the double play.