Kirtland’s youthful softball team has faced its share of adversity this spring.
The Hornets have gained plenty of experience and now the confidence is flowing especially after Wednesday’s 17-7 win over visiting Cardinal.
Kirtland has now won two straight games for the first time this season.
“It is great to see the development and the belief in skills and team,” Kirtland coach Jamie Kamensky said. “We have a group of kids that have the desire to get better and it’s really starting to show. This really is a stepping stone for the future and our young players.”
Cardinal scored two runs in the top of the first and responded to Kirtland’s two-run inning with two more in the second to hold an early 4-2 advantage.
“Kudos to Cardinal,” Kamensky said. “They came out with energy and really got after it. We started slow and then our energy sparked. The girls strung it together and put the theory ‘hitting is contagious,’ into action.”
The Hornets scored eight runs in the third and five more in the fourth to seize the momentum in the Senior Night win.
Elizabeth Vernon, Gianna Cantini and Grace Wolfe each recorded three hits for the Hornets and Cantini and Wolfe both knocked in three runs.
“It has been a tough season for us but the last two games, even though we were all focused, we definitely were relaxed and that made us execute our defense and offense very well without any hesitation,” Wolfe said. “It was very exciting to win the past two games especially because it means we get to move on in the tournament. Today, we were all playing for our seniors. Win or lose, we wanted to send them off the right way and that meant to play hard and with effort. Everybody worked really hard today and it just started with getting a couple hits. When we got those hits, it really fired the team up and gave us all the confidence we needed to get up to the plate and know we could hit the ball. When we all are hitting well we also field very well because we are more relaxed and confident.”
Haleigh Getchell led the Hornets with two doubles. Cantini struck out six to pick up the pitching victory.
Faith Peters went 2-for-2 for Cardinal and Taylor Soltis struck out seven.
