SCORE UPDATE:
Wahoo 3, Malcolm 2 (Aug. 23)
Blair 6, Malcolm 2; Malcolm 5, NEN 0 (Aug. 25)
How you finish matters more than how you start.
Things looked bad for the Malcolm softball team a half inning into its Aug. 19 game against Crete at the Aurora Invitational. After giving up five runs in the opening frame, the Clippers outscored the Cardinals 17-1 to cruise to a three-inning, 17-6, blowout win.
A three-run blast from Ashaya Steele got things started for Crete before Ansley Kuntz drove in two more with a double to center field.
Malcolm wasted no time answering as singles from Alanea Babb and Ava Helms brought in runs. After Babb stole home, Emma Brown homered to left-center to tie the game.
“The ladies were surprisingly positive coming to the dugout after the top of the first,” Malcolm coach Travis Meyer said. “I had no doubt we could get them back, but I wasn’t sure if we would.”
It was all Malcolm from there as the Clippers added five more in a second inning that included a two-RBI double from Babb.
Before the third inning was halted by time limit, Malcolm scored seven more runs. Brown, who went the distance in the circle, helped her own cause by driving in two more with a double.
“We have quite a bit of pop at the beginning and middle of our lineup,” Meyer said. “I don’t really care how we score them, but Emma‘s gonna have to carry a big load this year, so there will no doubt be times, late in the day, where she’s tired and we’re going to have to just outscore the other team.”
Brown closed out a three-win opening week by scattering eight hits and striking out three in a complete game. It was her third complete game in a three-day stretch as the senior picked up a 3-1 win over Cozad after opening the season with a 10-1 victory at Auburn.
“Emma was pretty focused on basketball this summer and didn’t get many innings in,” Meyer said. “Her arm is pretty fresh right now. But, the season is fast and furious, and games come day after day with multiple games in the same day so we’ll need to count on our freshman, Shaylee (Heidtbrink), to come in and throw strikes and play to our team strength, which is defense.”
In the Aurora tournament opener, the Clippers struggled early to get anything going against Cozad’s Madison Sayer, who retired six of the Clippers’ first eight batters.
The second time through the lineup Jessica Sandell singled to move Luci Brockhaus, who had been hit-by-pitch. Babb blasted a home run over the left field fence to score Malcolm’s only runs of the game.
That was all the Clippers would need as Brown held the Haymakers in check, allowing just five hits while fanning five and allowing one run.
The Clippers opened the season with an Aug. 18 trip to former conference rival Auburn. The runs came early and often as singles from Babb, Helms and Keira Farritor led to three first-inning runs. Farritor added doubles in both the second and third innings to help extend the Malcolm lead. Brown allowed three Bulldogs’ hits and struck out four.
Malcolm (3-0) should be challenged this week as it faces opponents from both Classes A and B. The Clippers host Wahoo (4-0) Aug. 23 before going to Blair for a Thursday, Aug. 25, triangular with the Bears (2-1) and NEN (1-4). The Clippers go back to Blair Saturday, Aug. 27, for a tournament that includes three teams from Class A, three from Class B and two Class C teams.
“Our motto this year is to get better every day, regardless of the outcome of the games,” Meyer said. “This week, I want to see some sort of improvement in all facets every day whether at games or at practice. If we do that, by the end of the year, we’ll be where we need to be.”
