Suzy Lindsay slides into second base during the first game of Friday’s doubleheader. Even though the ball beat her to the bag, Lindsay was safe with a stolen base.
The Hillsboro softball team pounded out 21 hits in an 11-6, 12-5 sweep of an improved Wichita Collegiate team Friday at the Sports Complex.
In Game 1, Hillsboro started slowly, going down in order in the first. In the second, Stephanie Abbott singled and then scored on a base hit by Jenesa Klose for a 1-0 lead.
After retiring the first six batters, Klose struggled with her control in the third, walking three and giving up two hits as Collegiate vaulted to a 4-1 lead.
But a lead-off single by Suzy Lindsay, an RBI double by Brianna Loewen and a single by Abbott closed the gap to 4-3 in the home half of the inning.
After a scoreless fourth inning, Hillsboro combined singles by Amanda Bina and Jessica Klose with a Spartan error and wild pitch, a double by Abbott and a run-scoring ground out by Meghan Jost for three more runs and a 6-4 lead.
The Trojans then broke the game open in the sixth with five runs on four hits, including a two-run, over-the-fence home run by Bina to left-center field.
Collegiate scored twice in the top of the seventh before Jenesa Klose (1-0) ended the game by striking out her sixth Spartan. The senior right-hander finished with six walks and scattered five hits.
In Game 2, Klose shut out the Spartans through the first four innings on one hit while her teammates racked up a 9-0 lead on seven hits over the same span.
The Trojans jumped to a 3-0 lead in their first at-bat, including a pair of lead-off walks to Lindsay and Loewen, who both scored on a double by Bina. Abbott then drove in Bina with a single one out later.
After pushing across a fourth run in the third inning with the help of two Spartan errors, the Trojans took control with a five-run fourth inning. Once again, Bina delivered the big hit, this time a two-run triple.
Collegiate touched Jenesa Klose for two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings and one in the seventh, but it was far too little, too late. Hillsboro countered some of the damage with two runs in the fifth that scored on a single by Abbott, and a solo run in the sixth inning on a run-scoring ground out by Tara Heinrichs.
Klose (2-0) scattered five hits walked two and struck out five for HHS.
For the day, Abbott was a blistering 6-for-7 at the plate with five RBI, while Bina went 4-for-8 with four RBI with a single, double, triple and home run. Loewen went 4-for-6 and scored five runs.
“This was a great day for the girls hitting,” said coach Stephanie Sinclair. “I was very pleased with the way our younger players stepped up with hits and base running.”
If Sinclair was disappointed in any aspect of her team’s play, it was fielding, as the Trojans committed four errors.
“Our defense had a few lapses, but we will take care of that,” she said.
Coming—The Trojans were scheduled to play a doubleheader at Halstead on Tuesday. On Friday they travel to Marion for a pair of games beginning at 4:30 p.m., then will host Halstead for two games next Tuesday, starting at 4:30 p.m.
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