Opening day a win for Eagles softball
By Bruce Wallace
During their season opener, at least one of the Southern Boone Eagles was in mid-season form.
SoBoCo pitcher Julian Austin struck out 17 New Bloomfield batters and the Eagles got a 3-run fifth inning double from center fielder Erin Barner to win their first game 4-0.
"I thought I had pretty good stuff today," Austin said. "I have added a 'riser' to my pitches and it was working well."
Austin gave up one hit in the seventh inning - a bloop popup that fell just out of reach of leaping second baseman Kelby Wheeler - and had no walk. She completely dominated the Wildcats, striking out the side in each of the first five innings.
Austin was quick to give credit for her near no-hit performance to freshmen catcher K.K. Heuer.
"K.K. called a great game today," Austin said. "I have developed a lot of confidence in her and she really helped me a lot today."
New Bloomfield pitcher Megan Cockrum kept the Eagles off the scoreboard for the first four innings before the Eagles broke out on top.
Heuer started the inning with a walk and freshmen Katie Curtis sacrificed her to second. Jacyln Richardson reached base on a dropped throw by the Wildcats first basemen and CJ Johnson loaded the bases with a single to left.
Sophomore Kelby Wheeler lifted a high fly ball to center field for the second out and Heuer tagged and raced home with the game's first run. After Alyssa Sapp walked to again load the bases, Barner hit a rocket to left that fooled the outfielder, bouncing and rolling to the fence. Three runs scored, giving the Eagles and Austin a four-run cushion.
The way Austin was pitching, four runs was a mountain of runs. Eagles coach Karen Persinger was pleased with Barner's run-scoring double.
"Erin has done a nice job in practice, not just hitting the ball, but driving the ball. Putting a charge into it. It was nice to see her not just hit the ball but get a hit in a position when we have runners on in scoring position," Persinger said. "That's what I'm looking for, someone to step up who wants to be in that pressure situation. It was a good start."
But Persinger said she warned her team against depending on Austin's pitching too much. The Eagles will likely be in every game, due to Austin's work from the pitching circle, but she also said her team is capable of being a potent offense.
"I was pleased with our at-bats," Persinger said. "We had good pitch selection and swung at strikes, we just hit too many into the air. We need to start driving those pitches to string some runs together. We can't expect Julian to come in and strike out 17, but this was a good way to get our feet wet and get rid of some of those butterflies."
The Eagles play at home on Thursday vs. Linn at 5 p.m. and host Hickman next Tuesday at 5 p.m.