BURLINGTON The start to the Iola softball season wasnt necessarily pretty, but given the opponent and the lack of good solid practice heading into the game thanks to the weather, head coach Chris Weide saw plenty to be happy about.
The Fillies dropped both games, 13-4 and 11-1, at Burlington to start off the 2019 season.
I think we saw a lot of positives, Weide said. We just played against a really good team tonight. Burlington is always solid.
The Fillies had a fresh face on the mound for both games in freshman Reece Murry and in her high school debut, Murry acquitted herself well, showing promise for the rest of the season.
She pitched two great games, Weide said. Weve just got to step up our defense and back her up. When you play a team like Burlington, you cant give them five or six outs an inning.
Murry was a standout in practice early on, showing she had what it took to jump last years starters in sophomores Jenna Miller and Kailey Schinstock for the top pitcher spot.
From day one she showed us that she would be our most consistent pitcher, Weide said. She has a couple of different pitches that let her mix it up quite a bit.
Offense was a struggle at times versus a talented Burlington pitching staff and defense but flashes of power shone through led by senior Kendra Sprague who hammered two homers in game one including a two-run homer that got the Fillies within two late in the ballgame.
She just really stepped up with her leadership, Weide said. She had great at-bats in both games and her dominance at the plate was impressive.
No other Filly had more than one hit.
Burlington went on to have a seven-run bottom of the sixth to put the game firmly out of reach of the Fillies.
In game two, the Fillies tied the game up at one on an error in the second inning but runs in the final three innings triggered a run-rule after the Lady Cats took a 10-point lead.
Weve got to have the wherewithal to stop the snowball, Weide said. Weve got to have someone to step up and make that play to end the inning. Thats really what killed us in both games today.
Iola will try to rebound on Friday when they host rival Chanute for a doubleheader. Weide said he hopes that he can find a winning line-up from a pool of talented, potential varsity players.
We were kind of in a spot where, with the number of girls that we have, I wouldve liked to have had a couple of the junior varsity girls on our bench, Weide said. But when the JV plays at the same time as the varsity, we cant have that happen so missed a little of our depth as well. There are around 14 girls on this team that I think can really play solid varsity minutes for us so were still moving stuff around.
