The Seward softball team got off to a rocky start to the season, going 1-3 in its first four games.
The Jays lost to Ashland-Greenwood 8-0 Aug. 21, lost to Wahoo 7-6 in a tournament Aug. 23, beat Lakeview 9-0 and fell to Duchesne/Roncalli 7-4.
Seward opened against Ashland-Greenwood and its returning All-State pitcher Sofia Dill.
“She was really good. She dominated us,” Coach Shawn Carr said.
Dill struck out 12 Seward batters in five innings and allowed no baserunners.
The team came back Aug. 23 in a tournament in Lincoln and played well in all three games, Carr said. SHS opened against Wahoo and had the tying run on third base with two outs after time expired.
“Their center fielder made a nice catch to end the game,” Carr said.
Danielle Pallat went 3-4 with a double and a triple. Karlee Baack doubled and drove in two runs. Alli Theobald and Bell Herring each doubled, as well, and Lauren Frihauf hit a triple and stole five bases.
Herring and Katie Schegg combined in the circle to throw five innings and strike out four.
Game two on the day saw Seward shut down Lakeview, holding the Vikings to two hits.
Baack was 2-4 with a double for Seward. Pallat and Kalliea Vest also doubled for the Bluejays.
Herring got the win, pitching 4.1 innings and striking out five. Schegg and Skyler Hansen finished the game in the circle.
Seward battled Duchesne/Roncalli in the final game, and a five-run second inning proved too much to overcome.
Freshman Haylee Siebert got her first varsity hit, a home run, in the bottom of the second inning. Baack hit a double, and Frihauf tripled as part of a 2-3 game.
Herring and Schegg combined in the circle again, with Schegg striking out five in 3.1 innings.
Carr said Seward had runners on but hit the ball at the defense.
“The last two or three years, we’ve had the breaks go our way,” he said, adding that in this game, those breaks went to DR.
Overall, he said, there were a lot of good things to take away from the opening week. With four new starters, sometimes five depending on the game, the Jays are young in varsity experience, he said.
“They all played great this weekend,” he said. “This group is awesome kids.”
Seward (1-3) was to play at York Aug. 26 and host Crete Thursday, Aug. 28, at 6:30 p.m. The Seward Invitational is Saturday, Aug. 30, with games starting at 9:30 a.m. at the Plum Creek Park fourplex.
