Softball: Rock Falls’ bats, gloves too much for Newman

STERLING – The Rock Falls softball team made the most of its opportunities Thursday afternoon against Newman – and kept the Comets from getting many chances at all in a 6-0 victory.

The Rockets (5-3) had four two-out hits that drove in runs to back pitcher Abby Whiles, who tossed a six-hit shutout with five strikeouts and one walk. In addition, led by stellar glove play from shortstop Brooke Howard, the defense snagged six hard-hit balls that looked destined to be Newman hits and instead turned into outs.

Rock Falls coach Kris Smith was happy with the win, but absolutely ecstatic about her young team playing an errorless game.

“Defense has been our biggest issue this season, and we have just been focusing on literally nothing but 100% fundamental defense,” Smith said. “And I think it’s working.

“And I think the better defense we play, I think it’s going to translate into the [batter’s] box, because they’re going to be more confident when they get in there.”

Both the offense and defense fed off each other against Newman (5-6). Howard reached on an error and scored on another error in the first inning, then drove in Bree Morgan with a two-out RBI single in the second. She promptly stole second and scored on Jersey Thomas’ RBI single.

“Right away we just came out hitting, with good energy,” Howard said. “In the past, I think that we’ve waited too long to start hitting, and this time we actually came out right out of the gates and hit really well.”

Meanwhile, Whiles (3-1) was on point. With her defense sucking up almost everything the Comets hit at it, she was able to focused on hitting her spots and making sure her form stayed true throughout the game.

“I was just pitching in and out, keeping myself striding strong, and staying on both sides of the circle so I wasn’t getting in a hole,” she said. “And it’s a lot easier to pitch with the lead. It makes me feel that sometimes I’ve got a little bit of room for error, even though I’m not supposed to. Bigger lead, small lead, it doesn’t matter; I enjoy having it.”

Newman nearly escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the third, after starter Ady Waldschmidt induced a 5-2-3 double play to get outs at home and first. But Zoe Morgan laced a two-out single right back up the middle for a 4-0 lead.

Howard led off the fourth with a double, stole third, and scored on Karli Fischbach’s two-out single up the middle. Rylee Johnson then led off the sixth with a double hit softly down the third-base line and scored on Thomas’ one-out single to right to cap the scoring.

On the other side, Newman stranded baserunners in five of the seven innings – including leaving the bases loaded in the third – and managed to reach third base only once. Carlin Brady had a pair of doubles, Sophia Ely added a single and a double, and Jordan Morthland, Skylar Savage and Molly Olson each added a base hit for the Comets.

“I think that next time, we just need to come out and instead of trying to hit home runs, we need to try for singles and doubles, and play for each other so we can get some rallies going instead of just trying to jack the ball,” Brady said. “I think it was just the change of location, and [Whiles] had a good changeup too, so the change of speed also threw us off, I think.”

Waldschmidt, Morthland, Savage and Madison Duhon all saw rocket-shots end up in Rockets’ gloves for outs, with Waldschmidt and Duhon being victimized twice. Howard had six putouts and three assists, and center fielder Claire Bickett made three catches that off the bat looked like they might be extra-base hits.

“That defense is really key for us,” Howard said. “I know that errors have cost us a lot of runs, and in our past games, I know that our errors were the reason why teams came back on us. I think it’s really great that we played defense really well today.”

“I was real happy that my defense was on point today,” Whiles added. “Some hard hits got through, and that’s all right, because hard-hit balls are going to get through. Brooke did an amazing job – I love her – and Claire in center did great too. I like my outfielders a lot.”

Waldschmidt (2-2) allowed five runs (four earned) and eight hits in four innings, striking out four, walking none, and hitting two batters. Morthland pitched the final three innings, giving up an earned run and two hits, with two strikeouts and no walks.

In the end, it was Rock Falls’ two-out RBIs and their own hard-hit outs that left the Comets frustrated.

“I think we just need to remember that the game’s never over until the final out, and you just have to keep fighting until the end,” Brady said. “But that’s tough to do sometimes.”

“Unfortunately, we didn’t make adjustments, and we have to stop swinging for the fence and look for base hits instead,” coach JD Waldschmidt added. “Overall, to be honest, I was disappointed; it’s the worst we’ve played in three weeks.”