Eureka Softball Shuts Out Oakville

Thursday's softball game between the area's defending 2010 Class 4 softball champions, , and , was dominated by Eureka's assertiveness.

The first time the Wildcats faced the Tigers this season, Eureka won 11-2 in the  held at the Chesterfield Athletic Association. The Wildcats repeated on Thursday with a 10-2 victory.

The tone of Thursday's game was set early in the first inning when Eureka's catcher, Syd Tockman, threw out an Oakville runner at second — which was as far as Oakville got in scoring position to start the game.

During the bottom of the first inning, Eureka's Alana Hester led the way to loading the bases. When Allie Craft hit a double, three Eureka runners scored, clearing the bases.

Samantha Witte sent a hit with excellent placement in mid-field, allowing Hester to get into scoring position on third base.

Kelsey Tepen hit another double, which scored two runners, making the overall score 5-0 early in the game.

Eureka's coach, Mark Mosley, told the players in the dugout they had set the tone for the game, and that they had the chance to "shut Oakville down."

Oakville changed pitchers from Jordan Michalski to Nicole Willie, but two more Eureka runners scored before the inning ended.

In the second inning, Tiger third baseman, Alex Frenz, injured her right hand. She tried to come back to play, but was pulled from play and after the game, Patch was told she was on the way to the hospital for X-rays.

The fourth inning was a short one for both teams, but Eureka came back out hitting during the fifth inning.

Oakville faced another injury when second baseman Baeley Reed, injured her knee when colliding with a fellow player to catch a fly ball. She, too, was evaluated by Eureka's trainer, and was deemed to have a bruised knee.

With two runners on base in the fifth inning, Oakville's Lauren Fussell walked. Lexie Klable then hit a pop-up fly, with the bases loaded, but it was caught to end the game with a score of 10-0 in favor of Eureka.

Oakville coach, Rich Sturm, told his players in the post-game huddle that they needed to put themselves into the right mentality and approach, game by game.

"You're the last ones to win the state title, but today's game wasn't even close. You've got to bring your best every time," he said.

He encouraged them to make adjustments, "starting tomorrow," saying they would return to some fundamentals to avoid getting beat by the same things again and again.

"Eureka simply played much better than us today," Sturm said. "They have good pitchers, good defense, and they hit 1 through 9. They are in the top two or three teams out of anybody we've faced. I'm sure they will one of the ones to watch in post-season play."