MTZ softball starts season 4-0

By BLAKE FAITH
Staff Writer

The Mt. Zion softball team starts its season 4-0 winning against Maroa-Forsyth, Teutopolis, Tri-County and South Central.

Against Teutopolis, through the first inning, the Braves were tied 2-2. Nikki Ellgood who stayed on the mind gave herself a lead when she hit a sac fly to bring in Ella Fink for the Braves to take a 3-2 lead.

Ellegood then went out and got two strikeouts in the bottom of the second and forced a F6 to get her first of four shutout innings.

“I was pretty pleased, we hit the ball and got a couple runs away,” Head coach Greg Blakey said. “Then Teutopolis bounced right back. And we answered back. I thought Nikki was a little nervous, the first thing. But then settled down and threw the ball very well. They held them to two runs. They got those two runs, the first thing. I thought she threw a very good ball game. I really think Teutopolis is a really good ball team. They played a tough game with Charleston last night. But, I think our offense played very well tonight. 17 runs, obviously.”

The Braves offense then pounced on the Wooden Shoes. Ana Kanemaru was walked and then stole second base for the second of a total four times of the game. Addi Rotz then hits one rbi triple to the left-field wall to put the Braves up 4-2. Audri Johnson then hit a home run shot over the centerfield wall to put the Braves up 6-2.

The Braves’ defense contained the Wooden Shoes offense stranding two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the third. The Braves tallied on 11 more runs to win 17-2.

“To execute like this, it does feel good because we’re still young,” Coach Blakey said. “We’re young, so to have that kind of confidence and to play this well defensively makes me feel good.”

The Braves are now 4-0 and will face Windsor, Williamsville, MacArthur and Effingham this week.

“The key for this group, I think, is growth,” Coach Blakey said. “We’ve got to keep getting better every game because we’re young and sometimes young teams kind of are up and down a little bit. But I just want to see growth and I want to see us keep getting better every game.”