NEW GLARUS - Opening Day for New Glarus was nearly perfect - the temperature sat at 50 degrees at first pitch, the Knights' starting pitcher had eight strikeouts to just four walks and the team of youngsters scored seven runs. If only the fourth inning had been a dream.
"I actually wasn't as nervous as I thought I was going to be" senior pitcher Riley Parker said.
New Glarus allowed eight runs (six earned) to cross the plate in the forgettable fourth inning, and with that fell to Lodi 12-7 Thursday at Glarner Park.
"I thought we did very well for our first game seeing as we are so young," head coach Myken Daeda said. "Yeah, we made some errors, and we are really going to want to improve on that going forward. We've been working hard with defense because that's what's going to get us through the season. We are a very young team."
Parker pitched a complete game, allowing 12 runs (eight earned) on 11 hits and four walks. Her team had six errors on defense, including three in the fourth inning.
"I was actually pretty proud of our team," Parker said. "We were catching the ball on pop flies and working really hard."
At the plate, Parker was 2 for 2 with a pair of walks, two runs and smashed a 2-RBI triple in the bottom half of the fourth that slashed the score to 10-5.
"We hadn't seen much live-pitching (this spring). Normally I pitch in practice, and it's kind of hard to hit off of myself," Parker snickered. "But all I was thinking in my head was 'See the ball, hit the ball.'"
New Glarus ended the first inning with a 2-1 lead and held a 3-2 advantage after the second.
After a scoreless third came the dreadful fourth inning in which Lodi had nine straight batters reach on five hits, a walk and the Knights defense committed three errors.
"I think I faced 12 batters. I thought for as much experience as we have on our team - we are mostly freshman - I thought they handled it pretty well," Parker said. "Most teams have bad innings, and I thought we handled it pretty well."
But Parker helped rally her troops. Trailing 10-3, the first two batters of the inning walked, and Lodi pulled starting pitcher Jaden Kolinski. That's when Parker came up and smashed a 2-run triple, later scoring herself after the Blue Devils committed an error of their own on the next swing by Zoe Moen.
Kolinski pitched 3-plus innings after allowing five runs (four earned) on nine walks, zero hits and a hit-by-pitch with five strikeouts. Olivia Wendt came in from centerfield and pitched the rest of the way, allowing three hits, two unearned runs, a walk, hit-by-pitch and four strikeouts in four innings.
"We talked about in practice that we have to move forward and play the game that we know how to play the game," Daeda said.
The Knights will go back to being dormant for a few weeks, as they don't have a game over spring break and are next scheduled to play April 3 at Lakeside Lutheran.
"We've got Riley, our pitcher, back. We've got Zoe (Moen), our catcher back, we've got Faith (Bump) our shortstop back," Daeda said. "We've got good leaders on the team. The rest of them just have to keep improving and working hard on defense."
"I actually wasn't as nervous as I thought I was going to be" senior pitcher Riley Parker said.
New Glarus allowed eight runs (six earned) to cross the plate in the forgettable fourth inning, and with that fell to Lodi 12-7 Thursday at Glarner Park.
"I thought we did very well for our first game seeing as we are so young," head coach Myken Daeda said. "Yeah, we made some errors, and we are really going to want to improve on that going forward. We've been working hard with defense because that's what's going to get us through the season. We are a very young team."
Parker pitched a complete game, allowing 12 runs (eight earned) on 11 hits and four walks. Her team had six errors on defense, including three in the fourth inning.
"I was actually pretty proud of our team," Parker said. "We were catching the ball on pop flies and working really hard."
At the plate, Parker was 2 for 2 with a pair of walks, two runs and smashed a 2-RBI triple in the bottom half of the fourth that slashed the score to 10-5.
"We hadn't seen much live-pitching (this spring). Normally I pitch in practice, and it's kind of hard to hit off of myself," Parker snickered. "But all I was thinking in my head was 'See the ball, hit the ball.'"
New Glarus ended the first inning with a 2-1 lead and held a 3-2 advantage after the second.
After a scoreless third came the dreadful fourth inning in which Lodi had nine straight batters reach on five hits, a walk and the Knights defense committed three errors.
"I think I faced 12 batters. I thought for as much experience as we have on our team - we are mostly freshman - I thought they handled it pretty well," Parker said. "Most teams have bad innings, and I thought we handled it pretty well."
But Parker helped rally her troops. Trailing 10-3, the first two batters of the inning walked, and Lodi pulled starting pitcher Jaden Kolinski. That's when Parker came up and smashed a 2-run triple, later scoring herself after the Blue Devils committed an error of their own on the next swing by Zoe Moen.
Kolinski pitched 3-plus innings after allowing five runs (four earned) on nine walks, zero hits and a hit-by-pitch with five strikeouts. Olivia Wendt came in from centerfield and pitched the rest of the way, allowing three hits, two unearned runs, a walk, hit-by-pitch and four strikeouts in four innings.
"We talked about in practice that we have to move forward and play the game that we know how to play the game," Daeda said.
The Knights will go back to being dormant for a few weeks, as they don't have a game over spring break and are next scheduled to play April 3 at Lakeside Lutheran.
"We've got Riley, our pitcher, back. We've got Zoe (Moen), our catcher back, we've got Faith (Bump) our shortstop back," Daeda said. "We've got good leaders on the team. The rest of them just have to keep improving and working hard on defense."
