
Ally Clay applies the tag from catcher Mackenzie Kasarda.
After playing their first three games of the season, the Gillespie Miners softball team (0-3) is off to a slow start for the 2015 season after losing to Triad last night, Dupo on Tuesday and Edwardsville last week.
Michelle Smith returns for her 10th year in the head coach position alongside Joe Kelly as her first base coach while Joe Matesa and Alina Fields head the dugout for the Miners as volunteer coaches for this year’s season.
This year’s softball team is young with four freshman in the starting lineup. Sophomore Addison Bryant returns to toe the rubber for Gillespie with freshman Mackenzie Kasarda catching behind the plate. It’s a young duo leading the team’s defensive game, but the story is similar for the team’s offensive game as well.
Smith isn’t writing this year’s season off as a rebuilding year
Despite the first games of the season and the young ladies leading the team, Smith isn’t writing this year’s season off as a rebuilding year.
Gillespie 4, Triad 14
With the bigger schools on the top of Gillespie’s schedule, the Miners dropped their third straight on Wednesday against 3A Triad. The Knights came out flexing with their powerful lineup and took an early 5-0 lead following the first inning on four hits.
The five-run first inning was too tough to overcome for the Miners who recorded 11 hits in the contest and stranded eight base runners. Despite the rough first inning, Gillespie held Triad scoreless in the second and third innings before the Knights added two runs in the fourth inning gaining a 7-1 lead.
Following the fourth inning, Addison Bryant was replaced by Sydney Henrichs to pitch for Gillespie. Bryant (0-3) surrendered 7 earned runs on nine hits and struck out six during her four innings. Henrichs tossed 1.2 innings for the Miners before being short-gamed in the sixth. She gave up seven runs (5 earned) and five hits.
Mackenzie Kasarda led Gillespie with three singles and one RBI in the game last night with Rylee Sarti recording two RBIs. Gillespie showed some life in the fifth inning after scoring three runs on four hits cutting the deficit to 4-7, but Triad ended the game in the sixth after scoring seven runs on four hits.
Gillespie 1, Dupo 2
The Miners dropped their second game of the season Tuesday evening on their home field at Welfare Park after the Dupo Tigers squeezed out a run in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 2-1 lead, which they held until the end of the game.
Gillespie was shy at the plate with only four hits in the game and two of those coming in the first inning when the Miners tied Dupo 1-1. Bryant led the team off with a single in the bottom of the first inning and after a stolen base, Ally Clay knocked a single for the team scoring Bryant.
After Rylee Sarti’s single in the second and Dannis’ single in the third, Gillespie went hitless for the remainder of the game and only had one player get on base in the last four innings.
Bryant pitched all seven innings for the team and recorded eight strike-outs. She surrendered two earned runs in her second appearance, allowed nine hits and walked three.
Gillespie 0, Edwardsville 17
Gillespie started their season last week in Edwardsville and despite playing a full seven innings, the Miners collapsed and committed eight errors in the 0-17 loss.
The weather could be partially blamed for the team’s rough performance in their first outing. A steady wind rolled through Edwardsville’s complex and temperatures were in the 40’s during last week’s game, but Coach Smith didn’t accept either as an excuse. “Super disappointed,” Smith wrote after the game. “Let’s hope the rain stops and we play like we are capable.”
The Miners recorded only three hits from the plate with freshman Mackenzie Kasarda tallying two of them. Addison Bryant recorded the third hit for the team and tossed all seven innings for Gillespie allowing 17 hits and 17 runs (12 earned). Bryant struck out six and walked three.
Gillespie trailed Edwardsville 0-5 after the fifth inning, 0-7 after the sixth and then 0-17 to end the game after the Tiger scored 10 runs in the seventh inning.
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