Softball drops pair of games in WTP Spring Break Classic
BOISE — Sandpoint softball fell behind early but couldn’t stage comebacks in its first two games of the WTP Spring Break Classic against New Plymouth and Vallivue on Friday.
The Bulldogs dropped the first game to New Plymouth 6-1, then the second to Vallivue 15-0.
“We struggled to get going in both games today,” Sandpoint head coach Elizabeth Hawkins-Williams said. “There were too many free passes given up at the beginning, and we just ran out of time to make a comeback in both games.”
In the first game, New Plymouth jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first two innings by taking advantage of pitching miscues and timely RBIs. Meanwhile against Vallivue, the Bulldogs surrendered 10 runs in the second inning.
When the Bulldogs needed an offensive response, they usually turned to Emma Loutzenhiser and Natalie Petit — the former of whom was the “most consistent batter” in Hawkins-Williams’ opinion, while the latter got on base in three of her four at-bats.
Friday’s games also marked the return of Jaycie Irish, the two-way pitcher who was one of the few underclassmen on last year’s veteran roster.
“Jaycie Irish had a breakout day in her season debut in the batter’s box,” Hawkins-Williams said. “She started her day with a blistered double to the right-center gap that sparked our team to come back after a rough start in the first game.”
Although the box-score doesn’t show it, Hawkins-Williams believes the defense has slowly come together over the past week. Like the other spring sports, softball was victim to a longer winter, which meant limited practice and game time on the field. Fielding errors doomed the Bulldogs against Lewiston, yet Sandpoint seemed to get its feet under them during the first day of the tournament.
“I was extremely proud of our defense,” Hawkins-Williams said. “They only committed one error today. That is a huge accomplishment for them, because they have not practiced on a field yet. It is a direct result of how hard this group has been working. I am really excited for our games tomorrow.”
Sandpoint has two opportunities to pick up its first win of the season tomorrow: first against Centennial at 9 a.m., then against Borah at 11 a.m. local time.
New Plymouth 420 0 — 6 5 1
Sandpoint 100 0 — 1 5 2
W — H. Rupp, 5. L — Irish, 2 (0-1)
HITS: New Plymouth — Talley, Dirger, Meyers, Furtado, H. Rupp, K. Rupp. Sandpoint — Petit, Davis, Kucherry. 2B — Loutzenhiser, Irish.
Sandpoint 000 00 — 0 3 0
Vallivue 4101 0x — 15 12 0
W — Zucker, 5 (2-2). L — Davis, 2 (0-2)
HITS: Sandpoint — Edwards, Petit. 2B — Authier. Vallivue — Duggar, L. Garman, Zucker, B. Garman 2, Sneddon. 2B — Engle 3, Sneddon, Hruza. 3B — Stacy.