By: Hailey Smithson
This past Saturday Redwood’s softball team played against the Bullard Knights. Despite not playing on their home turf, Rangers were able to achieve their first win of the season with a score of 9-6.
One of the team’s captains, Seneca Sowers, ‘22 stated, “everyone was a little nervous in the beginning but that shortly wore off.”
The first game of the season is always a little nerve wracking, especially not getting to compete in the comfort of your own field, but the Rangers were able to calm their nerves and pull off a win.
There were three errors on defense, however, they did not cost them too many runs. The girls were able to step up their game when it came to the offensive side.
They finished the game with a team batting average of .333 with a total of 11 hits that led them to score 9 runs.
Sydnee Weber, ‘21, Shelby Somavia, ‘24, and Morgan Bradford, ‘23 each hit a double that pushed the team forward to beat Bullard.
As well as hitting a double, Weber had one stolen base along with Alina Hernandez, ‘23 and Jocelyn Silva, ‘23.
Michaela Brown, ‘23 pitched all seven innings throwing a total of 159 pitches and an era of 3.00.
Weber, a four-year Varsity player, as well as co-captian with Sowers, believe that for it being their first game they played well but they need to work on communication on the field.
Sowers states, “this win gave our team the confidence to know that we are good and can play any school and still compete.”
She wants the team to continue to put in the hard work at practice like they have been and, “just take it one game at a time”.
This game was the start of Coach Rooney’s 26th season as head coach. He says, “We got off to a good start and look to build on that as we use our tough non-league schedule to prepare us for WYL competition.”
With nine returning players and an upperclassman heavy team, they have a good chance of achieving Coach Rooney’s goals of winning the WYL Championship and making a deep run in the Division 1 playoffs this season.
Rooney says, “This is one of the toughest schedules we’ve ever had, 13 of 25 games are versus Division 1 opponents.”
The Rangers are starting off strong with this win giving them a 1-0 record. Their next game will be on Tuesday, the 23rd against Sanger. The girls will have the home field advantage at this game.
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