Doubling up: Frederick's Ross shines in win over Niwot
Aug. 15—NIWOT — Every team, every new season in high school sports requires a learning curve as players new and old acclimate to one another, and Tuesday's matchup between Frederick and Niwot softball exemplified that trend from the very first inning.
In the end, the Golden Eagles shook off a few early miscues to seal an 8-3 victory in their opening matchup of the fall season.
No player soared as high as Frederick senior third baseman Tatum Ross, who dominated in the batter's box with three doubles and three RBIs in four at-bats. Senior center fielder Makenzie Sais, likewise, put together a big game with three hits and three runs of her own.
Ross hasn't seemed to miss a beat from last fall.
"It felt great. I just knew that it was my job to get those runs in and so I just swung and hit the ball," Ross said. "I came in clutch with a lot of games during regionals. The power just came through and even if they were to catch it, we could still get those runs in and the power overtakes."
Senior first baseman Zoë Cameron led Niwot at the plate, earning three hits in four at-bats, but she — nor any of the Cougars — could take credit for the runs they scored.
The Cougars wasted no time taking advantage of every early Frederick mistake, netting three runs in the first couple of innings to take an opening lead. Frederick needed no more convincing than that.
The Golden Eagles' offense came alive in the top of the third frame, thanks to the usual thievery from one of the nation's top base stealers last season. Sais started off with a base hit, then put herself in prime scoring position with a steal at second, her first of several. Avery Salisbury then sent her home with a sac fly turned error, allowing Sais to reach.
A deep shot from Ross sent her straight to the plate two at-bats later to draw the score to 3-2 heading into the third.
Ross decided to swing for the fences in the debut of her final high school season, driving another long shot to the same spot in left field to bring two more runners home before a throwing error allowed a third run to score. That pivotal, fifth-inning double handed the Golden Eagles their first lead of the contest, and they never let go. Ross herself scored soon after on another Niwot throwing error to hand Frederick a 6-3 advantage heading into the bottom of the fifth.
A frame later, the Golden Eagles expanded upon their lead with an RBI base hit from Hailey Simmons before knocking in one more insurance run, this one from Elayna Fisher, in the top of the seventh.
The Golden Eagles will look to ignite a winning streak when they host Skyline on Saturday morning, whereas Niwot will seek out a rebound game when they head to Skyline on Thursday.
"I think it's going to be good moving forward when we're able to recover from errors. I think that's one thing that we'll just look back at a lot is that we let the errors get down on us," Cameron said. "I think in the future, we're going to be able to come back a lot better than we did this time."
