Ella Cunningham's Perfect Game Leads Silverdale

It had been a week since the Silverdale Lady Seahawks played a softball game, so it’s safe to say they were ready to play when Division II district rival Boyd Buchanan paid a visit for a game on Thursday afternoon.

Were they ever!!

The defending state champ Lady Seahawks were clicking on all cylinders as every batter in the Silverdale batting order got at least one hit as they collected 18 as a team.

They scored at least one run in every inning and they headed home with a solid performance in every aspect as they blanked the Lady Buccaneers by a 13-0 final in a game that was called with nobody out in the bottom of the fourth.

Perhaps the most impressive factor from Thursday’s game was senior southpaw Ella Cunningham, who fired a perfect game as she retired all 12 Boyd Buchanan batters she faced, posting one of her best games ever with a dozen strikeouts and only two Lady Bucs who put the ball into play.

“The defense was great, we hit the ball really hard and we all had a lot of fun today,” Cunningham, the 17-year-old senior who has committed to play for Michigan State, said after the game ended.

“I felt loose from the beginning and we all knew that this was a region game and really important, but it was my first perfect game and really cool,” she added with a smile.

Several folks had told Silverdale coach Jackie Freeland that Thursday’s game probably wouldn’t be close, but she was hard-pressed to believe it.

“I’m really proud of how we came out and hit from the very start. There have been too many games where we got off to a slow start, but that wasn’t the case today,” Freeland began.

“And Ella pitched an awesome game today as she was totally on today. She was consistent from start to finish, but she’s been like that all season. We hadn’t played in a few days and were really anxious to get out here, but we wanted to put them away early and we were able to do that,” Freeland nodded.

Boyd Buchanan coach Tom Watson knows that his team is much better than Thursday’s performance showed. And he’s just hoping that his girls can erase this game from their memory bank as quickly as possible.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s one run or 15, it’s still a loss. It seems like they hit every pitch I called while we weren’t able to hit anything as we just put two balls into play.

“But that game is over and there’s nothing we can do about it now. Silverdale has another really good team and we all know that if we ever expect to be able to play on their level, you have to be able to compete with the best,” he added.

Silverdale scored single runs in the first and second innings, but it was an eight-run third that really broke Boyd’s back.

A dozen hitters came to the plate for the Lady Seahawks as they used a two-run homer from Amare Starling, seven singles and a walk to score those eight runs.

Bita Cox drove in two runs with a single while Kennedy Stinson and Gabbie Hensley also drove a run with sharp singles.

And then in the fourth with the Lady Seahawks holding a 10-0 lead, they got four straight singles to end the game with Jaliyah Whitaker driving in the first while Emry Masterson ended the game with a two-run single.

Masterson, Cunningham and Heidi Bryant all finished the day with three hits apiece while Stinson, Cox and Starling all had two.

Whitaker also had the defensive play of the game when she fielded a hot shot at third from Cai Cai Butler leading off the fourth and fired a strike to first for the first out.

Peyton Schweiter had the only other contact as she grounded out to first to lead off the third, ending a string of six straight strikeouts by Cunningham to start the game.

Both of these teams return to action on Tuesday when Boyd Buchanan hosts Notre Dame. Silverdale will be on the road that day to face Grace.

BOYD BUCHANAN 000 0 – 0 0 0

SILVERDALE 118 3 – 13 18 0

Ervin, Watson (3), Murley (4) and Johnson; Cunningham and Hensley.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)