The Lady Warriors celebrate Emily Bogoski's (23) home run in the first inning as she rounds third base toward home. Bogoski's two RBIs were the only runs of the game, as CAK beat the Lady Seahawks 2-0 in region play.
photo by Joy Fisk
Silverdale’s softball team gave up two runs in the very first inning against Christian Academy of Knoxville at SBA on Tuesday night; unfortunately for the Seahawks, that was all it took in an otherwise scoreless game with strong pitching and great defense from both teams. With a double elimination bracket, that means the Seahawks will play again on Wednesday and need a win to stay alive for the region. It’s a harder road now for the Lady Seahawks who hope to “three-peat” in their bid for another state championship.
The Lady Seahawks struggled in the first inning to get their footing with an error right out of the gate, allowing Halle Bedwell of CAK to get to second base on a bunt. Then when Emily Bogoski hit a homerun, CAK was able to score two runs. After that, the Lady Seahawks seemed to get back into their normal groove, easily catching pop flies and letting pitcher Bita Cox do her thing, allowing only two hits the entire game. CAK’s pitcher, a freshman, matched Cox on the pitcher’s mound for most of the game, only allowing four hits the entire game.
For Seahawks head coach Jackie Freelend, leaving runners on base was a point of frustration. In the bottom of the fifth, the Seahawks' Braylee Raby led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch and third on a fielder's choice, but then she was stranded at third with the next two Seahawks striking out. Freelend remained characteristically calm even as the Seahawks failed to score inning after inning. She said, “On the inside, I'm not calm, but I try to on the outside, remain calm, because it makes the girls more nervous if I'm not calm. So I always try to tell them- you have fun, stay calm, you know, play hard, all that.” When asked why she thought SBA had such trouble hitting tonight, she said, “I don't know. We just really couldn't put anything together. Like, we couldn't put our hits together.”
Silverdale’s Heidi Bryant, a junior, felt her team was not picking the right pitches to hit. “Honestly, we just were not seeing the ball correctly…but I think coming into the next game, we need to be more pitch selective, get the bunts down, including myself, and just be ready to hit and be ready to win.”
Head Coach for CAK, Charles Matthews, acknowledged his team was quite young but spoke about the performance of his players with great enthusiasm. “So Halle Bedwell got us going, she's been huge for us all year. Really fast, really good at getting on base and setting the table. And then Emily Bogoski's, you know, I've said it for a long time. I've been coaching for over 20 years. She's probably the best player I've ever coached. She's something. And she hit the home run and then Ella Borbeck is our freshman pitcher, and she was terrific. She's been great all year. And she just shut it and we played good defense behind her.”
Two of the top performers for the Lady Warriors were both freshmen. Bogosky, who plays shortstop and pitcher and who scored the only runs of the game, seemed confident all night. “I felt pretty good. I wasn't nervous at all...I just was like, what Coach was telling me- just go on top of the ball and that's what I did.” Borbeck, who pitched the entire game and plays third base, felt their chances at a state tournament win were good. Both girls said their team was special because they are like a family and get along well with one another.
Bryant emphasized that while the Lady Seahawks might be down, they’re not out. “I truly think we just need to play one game out a time. We totally got this, and I believe that. We are a good team and we can do anything.”
CAK 200 000 0 – 2 2 0
SBA 000 000 0 – 0 4 1