Softball walks-off against Seminole
Junior Reese Twiggs is at the top of her windup. Twiggs came into the game to relieve pitcher Lexi Beldowicz, and earned the win. Twiggs struck out seven batters, gave up two hits, and kept Seminole from scoring.
Down 9-7 in the bottom of the seventh inning, varsity softball almost lost their early season winning streak, but in walk-off fashion, the team beat Seminole 10-9 on March 1. Pitcher Rachel Matthiesen went up to bat with two outs on the board and drove in the game winning run with a hit to the warning track.
The team started the game strong, going up 6-0 after the second inning. However, Seminole took the lead and scored eight in the third. The game was tied 9-9 in the bottom of the seventh when Matthiesen doubled on the first pitch, driving in the eventual winning run.
“I [was] excited after coming back when we were down,” second baseman Lindsey Engel said. “It felt good being able to have confidence in my teammates abilities, in each and every one of us to pull through during that game.”
Late game heroics are not new to this team. On Thursday, Feb. 24, the team beat Lake Howell 7-2 in extra innings. The 11-inning game lasted four hours. There were two innings with bases loaded and no outs for Lake Howell, but Hagerty managed to get out of it with no runs scored, and in the last inning they came back.
The win over Lake Howell showed them what they are truly capable of as a team, and they brought that same energy into the game against Seminole.
“We have a team with grit and energy and when we step on the field we use that to come together,” Engel said. “We have two goals all the time: be a good teammate and focus on one game at a time.”
Looking forward, they plan to focus on the task at hand, face adversity and continue to learn from mistakes. Head coach David Stone believes they have depth in every position, but with this, he says players must compete for their positions and opportunities in games.
“There isn’t any room for players to be passive,” Stone said. “We have the ability to beat any team that we play, but we also have the ability to be beaten if we don’t bring our best. I certainly believe we can get better each day on the field, in the classroom, and in life.”
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