The girl’s varsity softball team traveled to Cleveland Hill yesterday to take on a big game. Cleveland Hill is always a tough team and better yet their biggest rival. Going into the game the girls knew they needed to be focused and in the zone the whole game. The girls struggled to make contact against Cleve Hill’s pitcher.

Each inning was quick with three or four outs, which wasn’t good. While Cleve Hill was up to bat, they were making contact and getting on base. Their hits were dropping where we weren’t and some errors were even made. While there were runners on second and third, Laura Kratzke kept her composure and pitched through not letting any runs in. The Bulldogs’ bench was not as loud as usual, which made it seem like the team was not as excited or into the game as they should be. As innings passed, the score remained 0-0 as each teams defense stayed strong. After inning six, Alden’s captains Vicky Adkins and Laura Kratzke had a talk with the team explaining how crucial the game is and a win is needed.

As Alden was up to bat, the girls still could not get runners on base. Re-entering the field, their defense was strong getting three out so they could be up to bat again. Entering the seventh inning with a score of 0-0, another talk started. Vicky had explained that one run was needed then we could enter the field shut down batters seven, eight, nine and we could go home. As Sara Pasternack was up to bat, she had a key hit to get on base, Laura had followed that up with a double to advance Sara to third. The rally had started and the girls were finally in the game.

As Brooke Strausbaugh stepped into the batters box she knew just a little single would score one and that is exactly what happened. The opposing team got flustered and made an error which would score us one run. With no outs, Anne Kocher has a clutch hit to score yet another run. The girls finally were making contact and had finally figured out the pitcher. Morgan Rutan was the next batter up with two runners on. Just making contact would score two; Morgan hit a ball right up the middle, which had scored two more runs. Alyssa Kozak, Jenna Wolstowski, and Brittany Jordon also played a role in the end of the game with one more run scoring. The girls entered the field to shut down Cleve Hill’s offense. Three outs happened right away as the game ended with a score of 5-0 Alden. The girls face JFK at home this Wednesday at 4:30.