SEYMOUR — Columbus East’s defense almost proved impenetrable on Thursday at Trinity Lutheran.
Brooke Valles and Jordan Johnston combined for seven scoreless innings, and the Olympians’ softball team blanked the Cougars 5-0 on Trinity’s senior night. East limited Trinity to just three hits.
In the first inning, the Olympians’ Jenna Robbins blasted an RBI-double to right-center field before Johnston added a run with an RBI-single.
Both teams went down in order in the second inning before East tacked on two more runs in the third. Following a double by Maydson Foster, Valles crushed a two-run homer over the center field fence to put the Olympians up 4-0.
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The Cougars put runners on in the third, off a double from Morgan Gabbard and bunt by Savannah Harweger, but a pair of groundouts left them stranded.
Neither team scored in the fourth inning prior to East plating another in the fifth. With runners on second and third, Keagan Nickerson sacrificed to score Maddie Uphaus and push the Olympians’ lead to five.
“I really liked the approach at the plate,” East coach Rusty Brummett said. “We only had one strikeout. Both of their pitchers are really good and won’t miss a lot. I really like us being aggressive. I want us swinging and hitting the first strike that we can.”
Trinity (6-6) went down in order in both the fifth and sixth innings before a hit-by-pitch got a runner on base in the bottom of the seventh. The Cougars couldn’t capitalize as the Olympians recorded the final outs.
Both teams used two pitchers in the game. Hannah Deaton was substituted for Gabbard in the circle in the fourth for Trinity, and Johnston took over for Valles to start the sixth for East (8-8).
Valles gave up three hits while recording three strikeouts and no walks. Johnston recorded one strikeout and one hit-by-pitch in two innings of work.
“I thought both of our pitchers did a nice job,” Brummett said. “Brooke came in and was really hitting her spots. We kept them off balance. Trinity’s a good ball club. They have a lot of good players. It was good that we were able to contain the top of their lineup. We made the switch late in the ballgame when they were going to get a third look at Brooke. We didn’t want a third look, so we brought Jordan in, and she did a nice job as well of keeping them off the bases.”
Deaton gave up six hits, four runs (all earned) and one walk with one strikeout in the loss for the Cougars. Gabbard finished with two hits and one unearned run.
“We didn’t hit the gaps,” Trinity coach Chad Goecker said. “We popped the ball up. We had an opportunity to score in the first inning, but just didn’t get it done. They were able to square up on the ball, and we weren’t.’
