Manhattan Indians softball has taken a noticeable step up from last season in year two of the Jori Bellas era. The evidence: an 11-11 record with four regular season games remaining after a 7-16 record last season.
However, the girls were shutout in both games of a home double-header against the formidable Bishop Carroll Eagles on May 8. The Eagles blanked the Indians 3-0 in the first game and 11-0 in the second to secure a seventh-straight shutout. Now 20-2, the Eagles have given up a total of three runs over their last 13 games.
“Bishop Carroll’s a really good ball club,” head coach Jori Bellas said. “And we knew that coming into it. We knew we were going to have to really lock in and put it together.”
In the first game, both teams were scoreless across the first three innings.Bishop Carroll answered by scoring runs in the fourth inning as well as one in each of the sixth and seventh innings. The Eagles’ three runs were the least they’ve scored in a game since their season-opener on March 27.
“[Sophomore] Josi Alesana threw a great first game,” Bellas said. “And I really challenged her this past week at practice, when she was pitching. Kind of made her set some goals to achieve. And a goal she had for tonight was no walks. She was successful in that. So that was a big deal for her.”
The second game against Bishop Carroll was cut short after the fifth inning as the Eagles mercy-ruled the Indians. The rule is that if a team is up by 15 runs after three innings or 10 runs after five innings, then the game is over.
The losses to Bishop Carroll came after over a week without any games for the Indians.
“It hurts playing a team with that talent after a week and a half of not playing at all,” Bellas said. “So that’s hard. The girls were locked in for a week and a half, and so we just talked about controlling what we can control, come out, have fun and try to steal one or two games if we could.”
The Indians played a pair of away games against Washburn Rural on May 12 and will finish their regular season at home against Hays on May 14. In between the Hays games, MHS’s two seniors Kat Ball and Ava Gaither will be recognized for Senior Night. Ball, who received college offers in all three of her sports — softball, basketball and golf — announced on Instagram on April 29 that she would be taking her talents to the golf program at Washburn University.
“I think Washburn overall, it was really my first school that I looked at, and I kind of just fell in love with that first,” Ball said. “I already have some friends up there, like [MHS graduates] Kierra [Goos] and Reagan [Neitzel]. They played [softball] at Manhattan High School, so it’s just going to be a super fun environment. I’m really excited.”
