It seems like softball is the fastest-moving sport every fall. Mainly because of the quantity of games and how quickly they play them within the calendar. Well the Saints of Southern Valley/Alma had another busy week with games on Monday, Friday, and Saturday.
On Monday they were at a triangular at McCook and went 1-1. They fell to McCook 11-1. They were down just 2-1 going to the bottom of the third. Then a nine-run inning doomed the Saints. Kaitlyn Bradley had one hit as did Macy Adams.
The Saints bounced back, though, beating Chase County 15-0 in three innings. They accumulated 10 walks and that was key for the Saints. Hayden Deyle went one inning in the circle and had three strikeouts. Riley Aerni went two innings with five strikeouts.
Following those games on Monday, they played in the Gothenburg Triangular and caught fire. We begin with their 12-2 win over Alliance. The Saints were up 3-2 going to the home half of the fourth. At that point, Southern/Valley Alma scored six runs to boost that lead to 9-2. They scored another three in the fifth. Natalee Holste was excellent at the plate going 3-4 with two RBI's. Brynn Bailey went 1-2 with one hit, four RBI's, and Ava Dunse and Mikah Schultz each had RBI's too.
Then, the Saints beat Gothenburg 16-11. The Saints exploded for 15 runs in the first two innings, including Brynn Bailey hitting home runs in each inning. Gothenburg though, would not go out without a fight scoring eight runs in the second inning and three in the third. But, Southern Valley/Alma was able to hang on for the victory in the high-scoring affair. Bailley was 2-3 with two home runs and five RBI's, Eden Johnson was 2-4 with four RBI's and Natalee Holste was 2-3 with two RBI's.
Over the weekend the Saints played in the Holdrege Invite.
They went 2-1 in the tournament and got fifth place. They fell to Kearney Catholic to start, 9-0. As a team they had three hits including two from Kaitlyn Bradley and Macy Adams had one too.
The Saints then played Alliance and won, 16-3.
Macy Adams was key as she had four RBI's, on zero hits but was patient at the plate and found ways to get runs across. They only had two hits coming from Mikahj Schultz and Beth Crawford. Brynn Bailey was in the circle and went three innings, allowed three runs, 0 earned runs, and had seven strikeouts.
The Saints faced the HWY 6 Trailblazers and won in a close battle, 9-8. It was a back-and-forth affair throughout the game and went down to the wire. The Saints were up 9-6 going to the top of the fifth. HWY 6 scored a pair of runs, but a flyout to Natalee Holste with two outs secured the victory for the Saints. It was an electric offensive game again for Southern Valley/Alma with 11 hits as a team. Macy Adams was 3-3 with three RBI's. Eden Johnson had a hit and an RBI, as did Mikah Shultz, and Kaitlyn Bradley was 1-4 with two RBI's.
The Saints are now 8-4 and will play at home Tuesday versus FCEMF, and then at Chase County on Thursday.
