SCOTTSBURG

With each at-bat, Seymour’s softball team shook off a little rust.

The Owls steadily improved throughout their season-opening game at Scottsburg, as they built a 2-1 lead through three innings before busting it open late for a 9-1 victory on Thursday.

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In the bottom of the first inning, on the second pitch thrown by Owls’ Rachel Kaufman, Ashley Martin homered to center field to put the Warriors (0-1) up a run.

Following a scoreless second inning, the Owls’ offense came alive in the third.

After Alyssa Perry singled to get on base, Kaufman hit an RBI double to left field to tie the game. Grace Meyer followed with an RBI single, scoring pinch runner Chloe Mellencamp to give the Owls the lead.

Neither team scored in the fourth inning, but the Owls added three in the fifth.

Pinch runner Camryn Reichenbacker was able to take advantage of a failed pickoff attempt by the Warriors at third base to put the Owls up 3-1 before an RBI double from Meyer pushed the Seymour lead to three. Stephanni Kleber followed Meyer with an RBI single, and the Owls held a 5-1 advantage.

In the final inning, Kaufman led off with a solo home run. After Kleber reached on an error, Carlee Robinson hit an RBI single to put the Owls up 7-1. After a single from Grace Rennekamp, Jozie Nicholson batted two runners in with a double to help put the game away.

Owls coach Jerry Burton said the team improved as the game went along.

“I think part of it is just playing your first game,” he said. “I knew that it could be a close game. We broke it open some, but it was later in the game. It was just getting comfortable with the bats. Rachel did a good job keeping them down to one run. There were a lot of players doing a lot of good things out there.”

The Owls collected 13 total hits in the game and didn’t record an error. Nine different players recorded a hit for the Owls on the evening.

“You need to be able to put the ball in play if you want to be successful. We did a nice job of that,” Burton said.

In the circle, Kaufman went the distance. She finished with 10 strikeouts, three hits, one walk and an earned run.

Seymour travels to Madison on Monday.