Elgin edges Comanche in opener

By Todd Brooks

No matter how many pre-season games a young team plays, there are almost always first-game jitters in the opening game of the regular season.

The Comanche softball team, playing with five freshmen in the starting line-up, were no different as they had a couple of physical and mental slip-ups in the early going in their opener against Class 5A Elgin on Monday in a 7-4 loss.

The Lady Owls bolted out to a 5-1 lead in the first two innings, but Comanche recovered, got their feet under them and cut the lead to one in the third inning. It would be as close as the Lady Indians would get, though, as Elgin picked up two insurance runs over the last three innings to secure the win.

Despite the loss, Comanche head coach Jennifer White was pleased with the way her team played in their first game.

“Actually, I thought they did really well,” White said. “When you start a lot of freshmen, I knew there were going to be some nerves going on, but I thought they handled it well. The first couple of innings were a little rough. You take those two innings out, it would definitely have been nice.”

Senior Jentry Whaley pitched a complete game in the loss. She also started out a little shaky, but got stronger as the game progressed.

“Overall, I thought Jentry pitched well,” White said. “ After the first two innings, I thought we had some awesome plays in the outfield and I saw a lot of good things.”

The Lady Indians were limited to four hits in the game with Whaley going 2-for-2 to lead the way. Raelee Ellis and McKenzie Graham had the other hits with Graham driving in three of the four runs for Comanche.

After giving up three runs in the first inning, the Lady Indians got one run back in the bottom half of the inning with Ellis walking and eventually coming around to score from third on a passed ball.

The Lady Owls added two more runs in the second inning to extend their lead to 5-3.

Comanche got a little momentum shift in the third inning. First, they got two outstanding catches by freshman center fielder Cianna O’Connor to keep the Lady Owls from scoring.

In the bottom half of the inning, Comanche loaded the bases before Graham hit a grounder to right field that brought in all three runs to cut the lead to 5-4.

The Lady Indians could not muster much more offense after the third. Whaley picked up a double in the fifth inning and Ellis singled in the seventh, but that would be all for the rest of the game.

The Lady Indians played at Cyril on Tuesday and play in the Verden Festival on Thursday and Friday. The next home game for Comanche will be Aug. 26 against Davis.