The runs came early and often for the W.F. West softball team, which put four crooked numbers on the scoreboard in a 15-5 win over Black Hills in five innings Monday.
The Bearcats smacked five doubles on the day, with Lena Fragner leading the bottom of the first with a two-bagger and Savannah Hawkins bringing her home with one of her own to get things started in the bottom of the first.
The first at-bat by Lena set the tone for the whole afternoon,” W.F. West coach Kevin Zylstra said. “She’s very consistent. Her job is to get on base and she does it pretty well.”
W.F. West went on to score five runs in the first inning, three in the third and the fourth, and four in the fifth, walking off on an error in the field that scored two runs to make it a 10-run deficit in the bottom of the fifth.
Avalon Myers went 3 for 3 with a walk and two doubles, and came around to score all four times she was on base. Ahead of her, Hawkins hit two doubles and drove in three runs, and behind her, Staysha Fluetsch went 2 for 3, and the only out she recorded was a strikeout where the ball went to the backstop, allowing a run to score.
Eight Bearcats combined for 15 hits in total.
In the circle, Ella Young went four innings for W.F. West, allowing an earned run in the bottom of the fourth. Fluetsch came in for the fifth and gave up a two-out grand slam to Zoey Theophilus — because of an error prior, none of the runs were earned.
Theophilus threw the first four innings for Black Hills, with Kailey Miller entering to pitch the fifth. The two allowed 15 runs, but thanks to seven errors, just six of them were charged to them as earned.
Both the Bearcats and Wolves are set to play Centralia next; W.F. West on Tuesday at Borst Park and Black Hills at home Wednesday.
