Bobcats Finish Spring Break 4-4

The Bobcat softball team returned from Spring break with a 4-4 record. Sommer Bourne led the offense with 17 hits including 4 doubles, a triple, and a homerun. She drove in 11 runs and scored 11 times herself. Sam Goode continued to own the circle as she pitched 7 games finishing with a 4-3 record throwing nearly 70% of her pitches in the strike zone. 

The Bobcats started the week with a bang scoring 14 runs on 18 hits against their first opponent Northampton Community College. 6 of those 18 hits were for extra bases and Sam Goode had half of them as she finished the day 3-4 with 3 doubles. Amanda Linberg also had a double, Halle Williams had a triple, and Autumn Fuller hit the first homerun of the season for the Bobcats. Goode threw all 7 innings striking out 9 and tossing a first pitch strike to 21 of the 29 batters she faced. 

Day 2 was a trying day for the Bobcats as they dropped a heartbreaker in extra innings to Olney Central  9-8 and then couldn't keep up with Hagerstown Community College in a 5 inning 16-7 defeat. While the Bobcats took 2 L's on the day, the offense was still firing on all cylinders. They recorded 21 hits and drove in 15 runs in the 12 innings played. Autumn Fuller had a great day finishing 7-7 at the plate with 2 doubles, 7 RBI's and 2 runs scored. 

The Bobcats would bounce back on day 3 to win contests against Glenoaks 12-2 and USC Sumter 19-1. Sam Goode was excellent earning both wins while surrendering just 2 earned runs across her 14 innings of work. She allowed 9 hits and struck out 12 throwing 75% of her 170 pitches on the day for strikes. Every member of the Bobcats team recorded multiple hits on the day as they scored 31 runs on 29 hits while also drawing 12 walks. Shayla Haynes and Sommer Bourne both had 4 hits on the day. Haynes had a double, 5 RBI's, and scored twice, while Bourne had a double and triple, drove in 4, and scored 4 times herself. 

On day 4 the Bobcats lined up with their toughest competition of the week in Kaskaskia College. Kaskaskia came into the matchup on an 8 game winning streak that would stretch to 9 as they topped the Bobcats 8-0 in 5 innings. Shelby Houchlei for Kaskaskia was as advertised  striking out 9 Bobcats and shutting them out while scattering 6 hits in her 5 innings of work. Sommer Bourne finished 3-3 on the day to stretch her hitting streak to 6 games. 

The final day of action for the Bobcats was a tale of two teams as they played fantastic softball against Lincoln Land College winning 13-3 in 5 innings while falling 11-1 to Rochester College. A game in which they recorded 6 errors and allowed only 1 earned run. They started the day with an offensive eruption scoring 8 runs on 6 hits in the first inning. Sam Goode wouldn't need that much support however as she would retire the first 6 Lincoln Land hitters in a row and allow only 1 hit across her 3 innings of work. Kamia Pou would make her first appearance in the circle to throw the last 2 innings of the game allowing 3 runs on 3 hits while striking out 2 batters. Amanda Linberg and Sommer Bourne finished the day with 4 hits a piece. Linberg was 4-6 with 4 singles and scored twice. Bourne was 4-6 with a double and also scored twice while driving in 2 runs. 

The Bobcat offense looked formidable to say the least in their first week of action of the 2022 season as the team scored 74 runs in 8 games batting a hair under .400. They will be back on the field trying to keep the spring break mojo flowing in two double headers this weekend as they will be taking on Sienna Heights and Penn State Beaver in non-conference matchups.