Dragons split Platte Valley doubleheader

    Holyoke High School softball kicked off its season last Tuesday, Aug. 14, with a doubleheader at Platte Valley High School in Kersey. Decisive third- and fourth-inning pushes by both teams led to them splitting the doubleheader, with Platte Valley winning the first 18-12 and Holyoke clinching the second 18-3.
    Despite a rocky start, coach Sherman Kage said the doubleheader gave fans the chance to see the work that the team has put into improving since last season.
    “The first one started out really well, but we couldn’t mentally recover, and that’s what hurt us the most,” he said. “The second one, we came out the way I’d expected. We just hit the ball and never looked back.”
    
Holyoke 12, Platte Valley 18
    Despite securing a five-run lead at the top of the third inning, the Dragons struggled to respond to a nine-run drive by their rivals in the bottom of the fourth.
    The beginning of the game found the two teams dueling for the advantage — Correy Koellner tripled and batted in a run for Lauren Herman, before stealing home herself at the end of their first frame. Platte Valley answered with two runs in the bottom of the first and one in the second, putting them ahead by a run.
    Holyoke appeared to pull away, earning six runs between the first and second out of the third inning. Platte Valley then scored nine runs with a flurry of singles in the fourth inning, setting up a lead that the Dragons were finally unable to overcome, despite scoring additional runs in the sixth and seventh.
    Batting for Holyoke, Koellner hit a triple; Gabi Gordon and Savannah Burris each hit a double and a single; Molly Brown, a double; Shianne Willmon, two singles; and Herman and Haley Van Overbeke, one single.
    Brown and Gordon led RBIs with two apiece.
    Burris stole three bases, while Herman, Koellner and Mavis each stole two, and Casady, Race and Brooke Schneider stole one.
    Van Overbeke pitched the game, facing 45 batters. She struck out six, walked eight and gave up 18 earned runs on 22 hits.

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