SoHi softball clubs Kenai

After an empty opening inning, it didn’t take long for the Soldotna Stars to light a match on offense against their Kenai Peninsula rivals.

The Stars scored seven runs in the second inning to steamroll their way to an 18-5 nonconference victory over Kenai Central in four innings Thursday at the Soldotna Softball Fields. SoHi moved to 1-1 overall this year while Kenai dropped to 0-3.

Stars senior Bailey Berger highlighted the second-inning explosion with a grand slam, the first home run of her three-year varsity career.

“It felt great, actually, it’s almost like I didn’t feel it at all,” Berger said. “I honestly thought they were going to catch it. I thought it’s OK, though, my team is behind me.”

Berger ended up hitting 2 for 3 on the day with five RBIs, including a bases-loaded walk in the fourth inning. The senior second baseman said the SoHi dugout stayed loud throughout the game with cheers and chants that helped keep the hot bats going.

“I wanna say it was the fact that we were behind each other on every pitch,” Berger said. “There was never a spot where we were down.”

Soldotna banged out 10 hits and drew 11 walks against Kenai starter Lexi Reis.

“Those walks and patience at the plate helped,” SoHi head coach Kelli Knoebel said. “We were able to just get behind ourselves, stay disciplined and allow ourselves to trust ourselves.”

SoHi starting pitcher Casey Earll allowed three hits and seven walks while whiffing six, but also went 2 for 2 with her bat, including a triple and two walks. Additionally, Casey Card went 1 for 3 with a double, Ashley McDonald was 1 for 2 with two walks, Bailey Smith drew two walks, Estrella Slats hit 2 for 4 and Ashlyn Asp drew two walks.

“The team was behind my pitcher, and that was big for Casey Earll,” Knoebel said. “Getting Casey that first win under her belt is big, and allowing her defense to talk it up.”

The top four in SoHi’s batting lineup — McDonald, Card, Earll and Berger — all scored three runs apiece.

The Kenai offense managed to get 11 runners on base and head coach John Manley said facing “one of the best teams in the conference” made for a tough day for Kenai, but he remained optimistic with the major improvements his team has made at the plate.

“We haven’t been hitting, and that was one of our better hitting games,” Manley said. “And pitching … that was one of Lexi’s better games of the year.”

Manley said while the Kenai at-bats were improved, but the team still has work to do to in getting runners home.

“We’re taking steps to getting better and I’m feeling good about it,” he said.

At the plate, Reis notched a hit and a walk and two runs, Leinani Rapoza hit 1 for 2 with a walk, Kylan Lakshas was 1 for 2 with a walk and a run scored, Zaharah Wilshusen went 1 for 2 with a walk and Abby Avery drew two walks.

The Kards took the first lead of the game in the top of the second inning when Reis singled and later scored on a wild pitch by Earll.

However, SoHi returned with a hunger in the bottom of the frame, starting with a walk by Smith. Ashlyn Asp walked to load the bases with no outs, and Lillian Gomez grounded into a fielder’s choice to score a run, tying it at 1-all.

Card blasted a two-run double through the gap to give SoHi the lead at 3-1, and the bases loaded up again after a walk by Earll.

Berger then crushed a pitch over the left field fence to really blow the game open at 7-1.

“The kids love the moment and love to help out the team,” Knoebel said.

Kenai got one back in the top of the third on an RBI ground-out by Nereid Phillips, but SoHi scored four more in the bottom of the inning, including a two-run triple by Earll on a laser down the left-field line. Earll ended up scoring when the throw home went wide, putting the Stars up 10-2. Smith later scored on a wild pitch by Reis to make it 11-2.

The Kards got their biggest inning in the top of the fourth with three runs. Lakshas started the two-out rally with a bloop single with the bases loaded to score a run. Rapoza then drew a bases-loaded walk to force in another run and Wilshusen knocked in a run on a single to cut the lead to 11-5.

In the bottom of the fourth, the first four SoHi batters reached on three singles and a walk, including RBI hits by Lillian Gomez and McDonald. The final two runs that ended the game were brought in on a single by Slats.

Homer 20, Palmer 1

The Mariners exploded on offense for a blowout victory Thursday at home.

Homer scored 12 runs in the first inning, and led 20-1 after two before eventually forcing the mercy rule after 2 1/2 innings. The Mariners out-hit the Moose 17 to 4, led by four batters with three hits each — Annalyn Brown, Grace Godfrey, Brianna Hetrick and Dellah Harris. Godfrey belted out a triple and finished with four RBIs, and Becca Chapman also had four RBIs to go with two hits. Hetrick and Kaitlyn Johnson both notched doubles as well.

Annalyn Brown dominated on the mound with one run on four hits and a walk in three innings of work, and hit the strike zone 25 times on 31 total pitches. In comparison, Palmer’s pitching staff threw 101 pitches as the Homer lineup continued to roll.

Homer started the wheel turning in the first inning with an opening walk by Brown, followed by two singles by Godfrey and Hetrick. Godfrey scored on a passed ball and Kaylin Anderson singled in a run, before a big two-run single by Chapman made it 4-0.

Dellah Harris hit a two-run single to push the lead to 6-0, and was followed by an RBI single by Godfrey and an RBI double by Hetrick.

In the second inning, Godfrey ripped a two-run triple to left field to push the lead to 14-1.