Girls back in the swing of things

The fastpitch team swung to extremes on successive days, losing 12-2 at West Seattle on Tuesday before annihilating Cleveland 17-2 at home on Wednesday for the team’s first Metro League win. Both games were called after five innings due to the 10-run rule.

“What happened today should have happened yesterday,” said coach Steve Nelson after Wednesday’s game. “West Seattle is almost the same as Cleveland. They just had better pitching, and we played that game on Astroturf. Our infielders had a hard time fielding the ball, and they became tentative.”

There was nothing tentative about the Cleveland game. The Spartans struck for three runs in the first inning, as Angie Rapada and Logan Mohr singled, Amanda Perna drove in Rapada with a sacrifice fly, Ashley Anderson plated Mohr with a single and Alexis Hujar’s single scored Anderson.

The team added seven more in the second inning to remove any doubt about the outcome. With nine varsity players missing because of spring break, Nelson had called up seven JVs and all were inserted into the game by the third inning. Even with Nelson directing the team not to steal, the Spartans still scored five in the third and two final runs in the fourth.

The team pounded out 16 hits – in stark contrast to Tuesday’s game, when they managed just two. Rapada and Mohr were both four for four. Rapada had a double and triple, while Mohr added two doubles. Anderson drove in four runs, two on a triple, while Mohr had three RBIs.

Pitcher Jamie Callaham allowed just two hits and struck out two.

The team traveled to Cleveland yesterday, and plays every day next week except Thursday.

Nelson is looking forward to finally fielding his full team again.

“It’s been frustrating because we haven’t had everybody,” he said, noting a combination of extended trips even before spring break and illnesses.

“And we’ve been fighting cold, rainouts and players out of their positions. We haven’t played like we did in our first game when we beat a very good North Kitsap team.

“After seeing all the teams in Metro, I think we can do some damage in this league. We have a great infield, a good outfield, and it’ll be good to have Sara Robinson back pitching.”

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