Cougars strong on both sides of ball in doubleheader sweep

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Senior right-handers Morgan Gabbard and Hannah Deaton turned in strong mound performances, and the Trinity Lutheran softball team came up with 21 hits for the day to defeat Springs Valley 7-1 and 11-1 Saturday at home.

Gabbard pitched the opener and allowed two hits while striking out three and not walking any.

The second game was called in the bottom of the sixth inning because of the 10-run rule, as Deaton held the Blackhawks to two hits while striking out three and not walking any.

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Cougars coach Chad Goecker was pleased with the pitching and his team in general.

“Today was a great day for the ladies. Very proud of the way they played and executed,” he said. “We had very efficient pitching both games. Both pitchers did a great job, and they were smart with their pitching. A lot of times, we get a little too aggressive, but they were very smart and worked the count very well.”

The Cougars held a 3-0 led after the first inning in the opener and a 6-0 lead after two innings in the second game.

In the first inning of the opener, Jodi Goecker and Jaryn Holtsclaw drew walks, and Genesis Munoz was safe on a fielder’s choice, and all three scored on errors.

Maddie Bell singled and scored on a hit by Savannah Harweger in the fourth, while Munoz hit a sacrifice fly and Holtsclaw had a two-run single in the sixth.

Harweger, Holtsclaw and Bell had two hits and one run apiece.

Harweger led off the bottom of the first inning of the second game with a triple and scored on an infield out by Goecker, and it was quickly 1-0.

The Cougars batted around in the second inning with Harweger, Munoz, Holtsclaw, Deaton and Bell all getting hits. Harweger and Holtsclaw both drove in two runs with their hits.

Harweger had an RBI triple in the third inning, and Munoz and Holtsclaw drove in runs with hits in the sixth.

Harweger went 4-for-4 with three runs and three RBI in the second game and had six hits for the day.

“Savannah had a great day, and when she gets off to a good start, she’s kind of our sparkplug, and everything flows from there, and the offense works good,” coach Goecker said.

“Our slappers read the ball well, they read the defense well and just did a phenomenal job putting the ball down where the defense wasn’t and put pressure on the defense,” he said. “We had some other girls in positions do some things with bunting, and they came through and executed very well.”

Munoz, Holtsclaw and Deaton each had two hits in the second game. Holtsclaw had three RBI, and Goecker had two RBI.

“I’m very happy the way the girls responded today,” coach Goecker said. “We had a lot of production. We’re very pleased with the way things went today. We’re getting better, executing well.”

The Cougars (6-3) will travel to Bedford North Lawrence today and to Salem on Tuesday in games that recently were added to the schedule.

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