UNION CITY – Mississinawa Valley hosted Arcanum in a WOAC match-up and the Hawks coming into the game have been competitive in the early going of the season. But it was all Arcanum as they were hot at the plate banging out 21 hits on their way to a 24-0 win.
“We were a little nervous about their pitcher coming in because she has thrown a lot of the last strikeouts and stuff … but I think we only had one strikeout tonight as everybody did their job,” Arcanum coach Mike Morris said after the game.
Morris was referring to Mississinawa freshman pitcher Ella Godfrey who
Arcanum would score 12 runs in the first inning, which wasn’t the kind of start Mississinawa Valley coach Max Guillozet expected or wanted to see.
It’s still somewhat early in the season but so far that’s the best team we have seen so far. They hit the ball hard, I mean, basically one through nine they hit the ball well,” Guillozet stated.
Arcanum left the bases early to stem the damage to end the first inning with a 12-0 lead.
“I hate leaving bases early and hoped it didn’t backfire on us, but I respect Coach Guillozet and didn’t want to run up the score,” coach Morris said after the big 1st inning.
Arcanum would plate 4 runs in the 2nd, 1 in the 3rd, 4 in the 4th and 3 in the 5th inning for 24 runs.
It would be a tough outing for Godfrey acknowledged coach Guillozet.
“I’ll be honest, Ella pitched literally with no rest, and she won’t tell me when she’s hurting and one of those kids that wants to pitch and refuses to come out of the game, she has very strong character, just a freshman who’s only going to get better,” Guillozet commented.
Leading the way for Arcanum was Jordyn Garbig going 5-for-5, scoring 5 runs and 2 RBI. Ashlyn Miller was 3-for-3 with 3 runs and 1 RBI. Ella Flatter was 3-for-5 with 2 runs and 3 RBI. Emilie Fout was 2-for-3 including a double and a home run. Marli Morris was 2-for-3 with 2 runs. Matty Noe was 2-for-2 with 1 run and 3 RBI and Belle Harleman was 2-for-2 with 1 run and 1 RBI.
Arcanum’s early season start, and record may not indicate it at 6-7 overall and 3-1 in the WOAC, but they are a good softball team and if they continue to hit the way they did tonight coach Morris will be very pleased.
“The coaches and I were talking on our way here that none of our losses are bad losses, like Miamisburg, Talawanda, Kenton Ridge, they are all good team and all doing well.
So, hopefully, knowing we threw a young team to the wolves by starting four freshman and sophomore that we’re only going to get better by the time tournament starts, there’s nothing we haven’t seen.
Hopefully we continue to hit the ball well and tomorrow get another win to get back to 500. And we can keep this thing rolling,” Morris said.
One of the highlights of the game was line drive homerun by Emilie Fout that put a smile on Morris’s face.
Yes that was good to see especially after we moved her down into the eight hole 3 days ago and she’s got three home runs since, which sort of make me look like a genius” Morris laughed.
Fout would give the homerun ball to her grandpa and grandma Steve and Christa Gruber.
Steve has the fun job of collecting them and preparing them to put them into a display for his granddaughter.
Starting pitcher for Arcanum was senior lefthander Hannah Kendig going 3 innings with 5 strikeouts and 2 hits. Senior Belle Harleman pitched 2 innings in relief with 1 strikeout and gave up two hits as well.
Mississinawa 4 hits came from junior Stephanie De La Torre, sophomore Cora Hoggatt, sophomore Cayde Neukam and senior Kenzea Townsend.
The Blackhawks have just 3 seniors on the squad Townsend, Makenna Guillozet and Tori Cooley and start 3 freshman and 3 sophomores but coach Guillozet in his second year as softball coach at Mississinawa feels like they have made strides from last season.
“Before today, I felt like we’ve been competitive in about all the games we’ve played. We won just two games last year and we’ve already won three this year and we’re still somewhat early in the season,” Guillozet shared.
The Hawk’s record is 3-4 overall and 2-2 in the WOAC.
“We just have to put one behind and move on,” Guillozet concluded. Mississinawa will play at Twin Valley south Tuesday night.
