First inning proves costly for Vikings
AHSTW Vikings eighth grader Etta Partlow struggled out of the gate Friday night allowing seven runs to the Riverside Bulldogs, which proved to be the difference in the game as the Vikings would lose their first game of the season 10-4.
“It was a tough inning there, but after that she seemed to be able to pick it up,” said Vikings Head Coach Katie Pace. “She’s coming back. We haven’t had her and didn’t think that we were going to have her at the first part of the season, so we’re just coming back. She’s doing a great job as an eighth grader. We have a young team.”
The inning finally came to an end when Freshman Viking Bella Lamp made a diving catch in center field to end the half inning.
Following the top of the 1st inning, both sides went quiet with their bats until the top of the fifth inning when Etta Partlow walked, followed by Addison Carrol with a sacrifice fly to advance Etta to second base. Then came the future Kansas Wesleyan softball player in Graycen Partlow who connected at the plate for an RBI single scoring her sister to get the Vikings on the board, followed by an RBI double by Lorelai Wahling to make it 7-2.
“It just takes one,” Pace said. “We talk about strength. It just takes one person to get going and then they believe in themselves and believe that they can do it.”
Etta Partlow got into some minor trouble in the bottom of the fifth inning when Bulldog eighth grader Peyton Schafer started the inning with a double, which was followed by an RBI single by Junior Ayla Richardson who knocked in Ashley Kelley, who came in to courtesy run for Schafer, making it an 8-2 game. Freshman Kayden Schnack connected for an RBI single at the plate, which would widen the Bulldog lead.
Wahling came in the bottom of the sixth inning to shutdown the Bulldog offense keeping the game at an 8-run deficit entering the final inning.
“Lorelai does a fantastic job and steps up whenever we need her to,” Pace said. “She came in, she did what we she was supposed to do, and did a great job.”
In the top of the seventh inning, the Vikings proved they weren’t going to go down without a fight when Wahling connected at the plate for a 2-run double, bringing the Vikings within six runs of the Bulldogs, but unfortunately came up empty after that for the loss.
“I’m very proud of them,” Pace added. “We had a conversation out there in regards to the scoreboard might not show what we wanted it to show, but that’s okay. Our focus all year has been growth. We only have a couple of upperclassmen, but our focus this year is been getting better every and everyday, each and every practice, each and every game.”
The Vikings return home Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. to play the Treynor Cardinals. The Cardinals during their 2023 campaign went 16-10 and were led by Jadyn Huisman with 36 hits and 42 runs batted in, along with Delaney Mathews on the mound with 13 wins and 107 strikeouts in 115 2/3 innings pitched.
“We’re going to reset here,” Pace said. “We’ll just go back to the basics and fundamentals of things.”
