Both Humboldt High’s baseball and softball teams were able to keep their undefeated seasons going on Tuesday night as their varsity teams played host to Burlington.
Their pitching carried them to their victories. The softball team posted a 9-0 win and a 10-6 win. The baseball team notched victories of 5-1 and 11-0.
“We played really well defensively in both games,” Humboldt baseball coach Mike Miller said of his team’s wins. “Our pitchers were really good in both games.”
Junior Rayce Hoepker shined on the mound in the day’s final game. Hoepker threw a five-inning complete game. He allowed only two hits with no walks in their 11-0 victory.
“He did a great job of mixing his pitches to keep them off balance and really pounded the strike zone,” Miller said.
In the team’s game one 5-1 win, Cub ace Jake Haviland nearly matched Hoepker’s start. The senior’s only run allowed came in the game’s first inning and he threw seven, four-hit innings and struck out 12 Wildcat batters.
“Jake did a really good job of holding them to just one run while our offense struggled to score,” Miller said.
Humboldt didn’t score until the fourth inning, when they broke out for four runs.
“We were really impatient at the plate and didn’t see many pitches early on and finally made some adjustments and got some runners on base,” Miller said. “We were able to put some pressure on their defense and took advantage of some errors to get some runs across.”
COURTNEY Richey, Humboldt’s returning all-state softball pitcher, picked up a pair of wins. Richey threw 14 innings over the two games and struck out 17 batters.
“These were two quality wins against a good Burlington team,” Humboldt softball coach Brad Piley said.
In game one’s 9-0 shutout, Richey held the Wildcats to three hits, 10 strikeouts and no walks.
In game two, Richey struggled, allowing six runs and 10 hits. She gave up two walks and hit a batter.
Luckily for Richey, the Cub offense came to life, scoring 10 runs including five in the third inning to grab the lead for Humboldt.
Rylan Wilhite led the team with two doubles and four RBIs.
“I was happy with our hitting,” Piley said. “When you have 15 hits in the first game and 14 hits in the second game, that is pretty good.”
