Lady Dawgs ‘belong in the game’: Undefeated streak alive

PHOTOS BY AMBER DOTY

Dalton’s Savannah Wenger

 

By ARIEL STAHLER | DGKN sportswriter

The motto for Dalton High School’s varsity softball team should be “All we do is win” because that is precisely what the Lady Dawgs have done so far this season. Dalton has been undefeated this season and they added to the streak with wins over Rittman and Lake Center Christian to make their overall record 10-0.

Dalton hosted Rittman April 11 and the Lady Dawgs won 10-0. Joey Reynolds hit an RBI double in the first inning followed by an RBI single from Lexi Vazquez to score Dalton’s first two runs of the game. The Lady Dawgs scored another run in the second inning and added three more runs in the third. Dalton scored on an error and a Vazquez RBI single for two runs in the fourth inning. Savannah Wenger singled in two runs in the fifth to cap off the win. Ava Fivecoat gave up no hits. Rittman’s lone baserunner reached on a walk. Fivecoat also struck out eight hitters.

The Lady Dawgs held Rittman scoreless for the second game in a row when Dalton won 12-0 April 12 on the road. Dalton scored three runs in the third inning before exploding for six runs in the fourth. In the fourth inning, Reynolds smacked a 2-RBI single and Vazquez followed up with a 2-RBI double. The Lady Dawgs finished off with plating three runs in the fifth, which was highlighted by a Reynolds RBI triple. Reynolds was 4-for-4 at the plate in the game. Fivecoat gave up two hits and recorded 11 strikeouts.

Dalton capped off the week with a 5-1 road victory against Lake Center Christian April 14. The Lady Dawgs took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Wenger doubled and then Reynolds drove her home in the third inning to put Dalton up 3-0. Lake Center Christian scored their one and only run in the sixth inning. Dalton added two more runs in the seventh inning to finish off the win. Fivecoat gave up one run on six hits and struck out nine batters.

Dalton’s head coach Zach McFarren said his team is more focused on improving their play instead of keeping the undefeated streak alive.

“We feel like we are winning the games we should,” McFarren said. “While being undefeated is nice, our focus remains on improving with each game. We simply want to handle the business at hand. We hit the ball well against Rittman. Fivecoat pitched well and was steady as usual. Against LCC, our bats were not as loud, but our defense was solid. Our defense remains disciplined, which allows us to relax on the offensive side of the ball. We have set ourselves up nicely through the first half of the season. Now it’s about continuing to improve and remaining confident that we belong in every game.”

Orrville varsity softball falls to Norwayne 13-6

The Lady Riders fell short in a hard fought battle with Norwayne, according to goredriders.org. Orrville came back from a 6-1 deficit to make the score 6-8 entering the bottom of the 5th. Orrville had 10 hits on the day. Candace Troyer led the offense with 3 hits and 2 RBI’s. Morgan Contini had 2 hits including a double. Ellie White, Morgan Vodika, Grace Hamrick, Lexi Weber, and Allie Jones (triple and 2 RBI’s) all added hits for the Lady Riders.

Northwestern 15, Waynedale 5

According to a post on Northwestern High School Varsity Softball on Facebook, when the Lady Huskies traveled to Apple Creek last week to play the Golden Bears they came away with a 15-5 win. The post shared about an incident that spoke volumes above hits, runs and scores:

“In sports, we most often focus on who played the best or who had the biggest hits. Although every one plays to be the best they can be and compete, high school sports is about building character, helping young women and men learn the value of hard work, responsibility, team work, etc. And we hope these young athletes take those lessons learned with them to the next phase of their lives, we call adulthood. In that spirit, instead of recapping all the big plays and hits by our Lady Huskies, I would like to recognize the Golden Bear softball community,” the post states. “In the bottom of the 6th inning, we had a huge collision between 2 husky outfielders giving 110% hustle. One of our girls required the squad to come transport her to the hospital. Rest easy Husky supporters, she has been checked, cleared of any serious injury and will be back on the field soon. The Waynedale staff rushed to assist her and gave her the proper treatment, keeping her still until the squad arrived to take her for the necessary tests. Head Waynedale softball coach, Jamie Lynch, his staff and the Lady Golden Bears team were so respectful during a very emotional and difficult time for our girls. The picture on this post happened after both teams had there end of the game huddles and the Waynedale players invited our girls to circle up and pray for our injured player and each other. Although they came up short on the scoreboard, the Waynedale girls were winners in Character. This experience reminds us all what High School sports is really about!”