HOISINGTON — After a slow start, the Hoisington Cardinal softball team is red hot.
The Cardinals swept Larned 9-1 and 12-2 in a Central Kansas League doubleheader Tuesday. The Cardinals improve to 5-5 and the Indians drop to 1-7. Larned plays at Lyons Friday. Hoisington travels to Nickerson.
“Hoisington’s pitchers did a nice job of keeping us off balance,” said Larned coach Dustin Wilson. “We struggled getting the ball barreled up this doubleheader. We have been hitting well all year. It was weird that we all had a hard time. Usually it is one or two batters, but the whole line-up. I compare hitting to shooting in basketball and sometimes you have off nights.
Hoisington’s Kenzie Kaiser homered in both games. She blasted a two-run homer in the first game.
In the opener, Kendi Maxwell had two runs batted in with two hits. Reagan Phelan and Marisa Jonas also drove in runs off losing pitcher Mattie Glover. Hoisington pitcher Karisa Schremmer struck out eight batters. Annie Russum drove in Larned’s Tymarra Bryant after a triple with a second-inning groundout. Larned’s Shay Shepherd had two hits. Russum, Alexis Langdon and Haley Skelton also had base hits.
In the second game, Hoisington’s Kaycee Steiner drove in four runs and Phelan tripled and drove in two runs. Shae Bitter delivered three hits and Chelsea Bieberle, Kendi Maxwell and Phelan had two hits apiece. Steiner, Jonas and Maxwell delivered doubles in the second inning.
Larned scored two runs when Kelsey Parr singled and Annie Russum doubled in the fifth inning. Shepherd doubled home Parr. Russum scored on an groundout by Haley Skelton.
Winning pitcher Delaney Smith struck out six batters. Smith ended the game with a run-scoring single for a 10-run victory.
HOISINGTON 9, LARNED 1
Larned 010 000 0 — 1 5 3
Hoisington 431 001 x — 9 9 1
Glover, Shepherd (5) and Langdon. Schremmer and Jonas. W—Schremmer. L—Glover. 2B—L, Russum; H, Steiner. 3B—L, Bryant. HR—H, Kaiser.
HOISINGTON 12, LARNED 2
Larned 000 020 — 2 6 4
Hoisington 154 002 — 12 13 3
Glover, Shepherd (4) and Langdon. Smith and Jonas. W—Smith. L—Glover. 2B—H, Steiner, Jonas, Maxwell; L, Russum, Shepherd. 3B—H, Phelan. HR—H, Kaiser.
CKL SOFTBALL
Hillsboro 6-0
Lyons 6-0
Haven 7-1
Kingman 6-2
Hoisington 5-5
Halstead 4-4
Sterling 4-4
Smoky Valley 4-4
Pratt 3-5
Larned 1-7
Nickerson 0-6
Hesston 0-8
Tuesday’s games
Halstead 12-17, Nickerson 0-2
Haven 12-19, Hesston 1-1
Hillsboro 8-8, Pratt 0-0
Hoisington 9-12, Larned 1-2
Lyons 9-11, Kingman 0-0
Smoky Valley 6-14, Sterling 4-4
Friday’s games
Haven at Halstead
Hesston at Smoky Valley
Hoisington at Nickerson
Kingman at Hillsboro
Larned at Lyons
Sterling at Pratt
