Crawfordsville softball lost its Sagamore Conference opener 15-0 to Class 3A No. 5 ranked Danville, but first-year coach Kevin Kellerman continues to see improvement.
“Our batting approach,” he said. “We did strikeout 10 times, but none of them were looking. We were swinging early and often, which is way better than what we’ve done and against probably the best pitcher we’ve seen all year. And our hits were hard hits. We had bases loaded the first two innings, we just couldn’t get the big hit.”
The Athenians (0-6) were unable to convert those early scoring opportunities into any runs, while Danville took a 9-0 lead after two innings — and continued to pour it on with six more runs in the third.
Ella Brinkley led the Warriors (6-0) with three hits, scored three runs and drove in a pair. Adrianna Taylor added four RBI on two hits.
Olivia Reed led the Athenians with a pair of base-hits, while Allyson Barton, Laine Schlicher, Halle Elliott, and Brooklyn Mills each had hits.
Kellerman didn’t know what to expect after the Athenians committed 11 errors in a 23-5 loss to West Lafayette on Monday, but bounced back with one of their best efforts of the season against Sagamore Conference favorite Danville. Defensively they had just four errors.
“I didn’t know what to expect, because it was quiet on the way home, but I told the coaches before this game that ‘I had a really good feeling we are going to play well,” he said. “They were just engaged from the time they got to batting practice to the time the game started and more so than they had in the past.
“The effort in particular, I thought was outstanding today. The heart and the effort. I walked away from this way better than last night, by a lot. And so did they.”
Crawfordsville travels to Danville today.
