LAPEL — Greenfield-Central and first-year head coach Gary Roberts couldn’t have asked for a better opening half-inning to the 2024 softball season.
A leadoff Josie White single, a Kristen Wineinger walk and a Savvanna Riall two-run double put the Cougars ahead 2-0 just three batters into the game and their season.
But for the Cougars, the following six innings didn’t follow suit.
After jumping out to an early 3-0 lead, the Cougars (0-1) bats went cold on a windy night at Lapel High School in a 7-3 loss to the host Bulldogs (4-1).
“We’re young, we’ll learn from this and get better. There were a lot of positives. Josie played tremendous at shortstop and some kids got some big hits,” Roberts said. “A lot of positives but we’ve got some things to work on and we’re going to go do that.”
Along with the two-run Riall double, a sacrifice fly by Charlotte Riehle capped off Greenfield-Central’s opening half-inning.
In the first inning, starting pitcher Madysen Herbert walked two of the first three batters and hit the other with a pitch to load the bases. A double play to Riall at third and a ground ball to White at shortstop got the Cougars out of the early jam.
But in the second, the control issues plagued Herbert again.
She walked three of the first four batters in the inning before being replaced by freshman Addi Heacox.
“She [Herbert] kind of struggles from time to time but she usually works her way out of it. With three pitchers, we’re going to see what we’ve got early and go from there.”
In her first varsity action, Heacox walked in the Bulldogs first run of the game and later allowed a two-run single to Laylah Gore before a lineout to White at shortstop ended the inning tied at 3-3.
The Bulldogs, playing their fifth game of the season, took their first lead of the game and scored the eventual winning run on a Delaney Balser solo home run in the third inning, and in the fourth inning, they added to the lead.
A two-run home run by Gore ended Heacox’s night before another freshman, Ailea Dowdy, replaced her. Dowdy allowed one run in the inning on a Karlie Jannings single before settling in. She retired seven of the final eight Lapel batters.
“I think Addi did pretty well for being a freshman. I know she was nervous,” Roberts said. “Ailea did very well for us and settled things down.”
While the Cougars struggled to limit Lapel runs, their bats went silent after the first inning.
After the opening three hitters reached base, Lapel starting pitcher Addison Bodenhorn retired 18 of the next 20 batters. A Makenna Rankins walk and a Riall single in the sixth were the only two Cougars to get on base until the seventh inning.
“Our pitch selection at the plate wasn’t the best,” Roberts said. “We were swinging at a lot of things we shouldn’t have been, but that could just be some first-game jitters.”
In the seventh, Rankins walked again and later scored on an Allison Hornaday single to cut the Cougars deficit to 7-4, but Bodenhorn got White to fly out and Wineinger to pop out to end the game.
Greenfield-Central is back in action Tuesday at Hamilton Southeastern beginning at 6 p.m.
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Lapel 7, Greenfield-Central 4
Greenfield-Central (0-1);300;000;1; —;4;6;1
Lapel (4-1);031;300;x; —;7;8;1
Madysen Herbert, Addi Heacox (2), Ailea Dowdy (4) and Charlotte Riehle; Addison Bodenhorn and Laylah Gore. 2B: G-C – Savvanna Riall. L – Ava Everman, Paige Stires. HR: L – Delaney Balser (1), Laylah Gore (3). WP: Bodenhorn (1-0). LP: Heacox (0-1).
