Softball wins first two games of season

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Brianna Carmack, Print Editor-in-Chief

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The Manhattan High Varsity softball team had their first two games last Friday, hosted at Anneberg Park. The team played against Lawrence High School, defeating them 10-8 in the first game and 1-0 in the second. The second game finished while in the fifth inning due to an incoming thunderstorm.

According to junior Paige Dupler, the team played well for having most of their team miss out on an entire season due to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think the games went extremely well for not playing together in a real game situation like that,” Dupler said. “With basically over 50% of our Varsity team not playing a game yet in their high school experience, I can’t be more proud of them.”

The issues that the team found to be the most common included working together in the game and reading the situation to maximize scoring.

“Communication would be the biggest thing I think we can improve on as a team,” Dupler said. “Obviously, you can’t have perfect communication within two games but over time it will get better and I can’t wait to see where we are at the end of the season. A huge goal we all need to work on is batting the situation. We can’t be leaving girls on base in scoring positions at the end of each at-bat.”

During the second game, LHS had a difficult time hitting the ball because sophomore Kierra Goos managed to challenge them a bit at-bat.

“That was the pitching we needed,” Dupler said. “She really came through and I couldn’t be happier with how the game turned out.”

With the start of the COVID-19 pandemic happening right before softball, the team missed out on an entire season, so getting back in the game and playing with each other was exciting for the players.

“I was so excited to get back on the field and just see how the team chemistry was going to start off this year,” Dupler said. “I was a little nervous, I’m not going to lie, but once I got on the field it all went away.”

After seeing everyone’s performance from the first two games, the team feels as though the season will go well.

“It felt so good to have a team that I was very proud of,” Dupler said. “It was a great way to start off our season and motivate us for our upcoming games.”

The next game was on Tuesday at Anneberg Park. The team played against Great Bend and McPherson. On Thursday, MHS will travel to Seaman High School for another game.