Newport 10, Sweet Home 0
Newport shut out Sweet Home in the Huskies’ first softball outing of the season on Thursday.
The Huskies traveled to Newport and lost in the fifth inning under the 10-run rule.
“Our pitcher kind of got behind early,” said Coach Casey Humphrey. “We had to give them a pitch to hit.”
When the Huskies did, Newport was good at hitting it into the gap and getting on base, Humphrey said. Newport’s pitcher, Cochran, did the opposite. She kept getting ahead in the count, throwing strikes early.
“We just kind of had the first-game blues,” Humphrey said. “We hadn’t been outside much, which isn’t an excuse.”
It’s got the team fired up, he said. They’re working a bit harder now, and Monday was the best practice of the season so far.
The Huskies played flawless defense, while Newport had three errors. Newport recorded 12 hits, while Sweet Home recorded three.
“The third inning, we kind of got things going a bit,” Humphrey said. Down 7-0 with two outs, Cailtyn Gillespie and Katie Virtue put together back-to-back singles in the third inning. With runners on first and second, it was a shot at coming back.
“In softball, that (7-0) can change lickity split,” Humphrey said.
Emili Riggs added a single in the fourth.
Megan Graville pitched 2 1/3 innings, and Emily Marchbanks pitched 1 2/3 innings.
It wasn’t the start this team wanted, but what he saw afterward was not a team that was satisfied, Humphrey said. “I saw a team that was ready to get back to work. They want another game so they can get the bad taste out of their mouths.
“It wasn’t the best outing, the one we expected,” Humphrey said. “To be honest, I don’t think we’ll have too many outings like that day.”
Sweet Home 000 00 – 0 3 0
Newport 160 3x – 10 12 3