Seward softball second at Raymond Central

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After opening the season against top-10 Waverly, the Seward softball team finished second in the Freeman Invitational Aug. 18, losing to Raymond Central 14-8 in the finals.

Coach Rich Eber said Waverly, Seward’s first opponent, is a good team with nine seniors and continued last season’s success against the Jays, winning 7-3.

“Mistakes gave them the early lead,” he said. “We couldn’t get enough rolling.”

Seward’s offense collected eight hits but couldn’t string them together, Eber said. Hannah Benedict and Sydney Parra were each 2-3, and Parra, Alayna Goldsmith, Grace Hamling and Haley Marshall each hit doubles.

In the opening game of the Freeman Invitational, Wahoo led 6-0 after the second inning before Seward’s offense got going. The Jays scored three in the third, one in the fourth and five in the fifth. Claire Karel was 3-4, and Benedict and Camden Peery had two hits each. Benedict and Hamling doubled, as well.

That momentum carried into game two, an 11-3 win over NEN, a co-op of Bancroft-Rosalie, Lyons-Decatur, Pender and Wisner-Pilger.

Goldsmith was 4-4 with a triple and three RBIs and Hamling was 3-4. Hamling and Haley Marshall both doubled. Lindsay Flesner drove in two, and Haley Blecha drove in three with two sacrifice flies.

Benedict struck out eight batters over five innings to get the win in the circle.

The Jays played Raymond Central in the final and led 8-5 after three innings, thanks in part to a third-inning grand slam by Benedict.

Raymond Central, however, pounded out 20 hits in the game and came back to win.

No Bluejay had more than one hit in the game.

“We are still trying to find our identity,” Eber said. “We’re trying to find our rhythm and compete.”

The Jays have a full week with York and Crete, both state qualifying teams, on Aug. 21 and 23, respectively, and the Seward Invitational Saturday, Aug. 25.