WeBo tops Danville in low-scoring affair
Apr. 24—DOVER — The Western Boone softball team couldn't string together as much offense as they wanted to on Wednesday evening.
But they made it for it with strong pitching and defense.
Western Boone topped Danville 4-2 on Wednesday night, improving to 6-1 in the Sagamore Conference and 8-4 overall.
"It's important to win the first game of a series," Western Boone head coach Mike Vanderpool said. "Danville always has a strong team. They are a little young this year, but they have a good, solid team. We didn't hit the ball that well tonight, and we have to get our bats going."
The Stars managed seven hits in the game, with Mickey Burns going 2-for-4 with a run scored, and Emma Shirley, Gabby Lewis, Morganne Grant, Mickayla Naanos and Ally Lewis all picking up hits. Kenzlei Mathews drew two walks.
But they weren't able to capitalize on their opportunities as much as Vanderpool wanted.
"We were taking too many pitches and watching too many strikes go by," Vanderpool said. "I want us to be free swingers. I think we have good hitters, and we need to go up there and be more aggressive at the plate."
Western Boone led 1-0 after an RBI-ground out from Mathews.
Danville tied the game on a passed ball, but WeBo retook the lead in the bottom of the third on an error and added a third run in the fourth on another error.
Danville got within 3-2 in the sixth, but the Stars got a big insurance run when Shirley singled to lead-off the inning, then scored on Naanos' 2-out double.
"We really needed that run," Vanderpool said.
"We were only up one, so every insurance run is big. They were starting to put the bat on the ball fairly hard, and had just scored the previous half inning, so it was definitely good to get that hit."
From there, it was up to the Stars' defense and pitching, and they got the job done.
Dottie Wilson made a leaping catch in right field for the first out, before a pop out and lazy fly ball ended it.
Gabby Lewis only allowed two hits in the game and one earned run. She struck out six.
"Gabby pitched well and our defense is coming along," Vanderpool said. "We gave them a run on a dropped third strike, but Dottie made a nice catch in the last inning and our outfield is coming along. Early in the season, that is where we had a few question marks, but they have been improving every game, we just need to clean it up in a couple other places."
Western Boone travels to Danville on Thursday for the second game of the series, then travel to Speedway on Friday.
"We have to be more aggressive at the plate," Vanderpool said. "We want to go up to the plate being free swingers and not let those strikes go by."
Baseball
The Stars took game one of the Sagamore Conference series with Danville 5-2.
Western Boone scored in each of the first two innings, getting an RBI ground out from Jackson Grimes and a balk that scored Cole Wiley in the second.
Western Boone then burst the game open in the fifth, with Grimes driving in a run with a ground out, followed by an RBI-single from Quinn Westerfeld, who later scored on an error.
Gavin Hawkins, Westerfeld and Wiley had the only three hits for the Stars. Westerfeld and Carter Marcum drew walks.
Bryce Kopriva got the complete game win, allowing no earned runs on five hits. Striking out four.
The two teams met up in Danville on Thursday.
Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.
