East Troy’s Softball team improves record to 2-2
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
Fans of low-scoring softball games may not have enjoyed East Troy’s two contests the first week of April.
But if you like offense, there was plenty of that – to go with a pair of victories to put the Trojans on the positive side of the scoreboard for the first time in the young season.
East Troy posted Rock Valley Conference wins of 10-8 over Palmyra-Eagle April 5 and 16-12 at Parkview April 7 to even its record to 2-2 overall and 2-1 in the RVC.
Nothing like a little success to get everybody’s mind right, East Troy coach Greg Prince said.
“Any time you can win, I think it’s important,” he said. “It validates in the players’ minds what you work on in practice and makes them believe in themselves.
“I think it has shown them that if they work hard, stay positive and stick together, that good things can happen for them.”
East Troy trailed late in both games before it put together a rally to pull out a win.
Against Parkview, the Trojans faced an 11-8 deficit into the top of the fifth inning before they exploded for seven runs to take control.
Chloe Jakscht led the rally with a two-run single, followed by RBI singles from Hunter Scheel and Samantha Donohue.
East Troy added an insurance run in the sixth inning on a single by Vanessa Dingman. Parkview answered with four runs of its own in the bottom of the frame, but that was the end of the scoring.
Jakscht led the offense with four hits, including two doubles and a homer, followed by Dingman (three hits, double), Scheel (two hits) and Heimos (two hits).
Heimos and Donohue combined to work all seven innings, and allowed five earned runs, 11 hits, two walks and struck out three. Donohue was credited with the win.
Defense was a struggle early, Prince said, as the Trojans committed seven errors in the first three innings.
“The error bug came out and bit us again early,” he said. “Too many mistakes made it possible for Parkview to get rolling early. We played solid defense after the first three innings.”
In the opener against Palmyra, the Trojans again fell behind, this time 8-5, but a five-run sixth inning was the difference in the 10-8 victory.
Heimos led the offense with two hits, including a double, and a run scored, while O’Connell added a double and two runs scored.
“We played a very complete game against Palmyra, other than being able to come up with a couple of key hits that could have made the game a little easier on us,” Prince said. “It was a real good defensive effort with only one error, but a real solid effort.”
Heimos earned the win, as she allowed two walks and struck out four.
Following Tuesday’s Edgerton contest, the Trojans host Edgerton Thursday, followed by a road matchup at Whitewater Saturday.
Prince is hopeful his team’s strong start offensively will continue this week.
“I have been very impressed with our patience at the plate from top to bottom,” he said. “We have been looking for pitches that we can drive well and making solid contact.
“We need to continue to be patient at the plate, swing at good pitches and get runners on base. Having quality at bats with runners in scoring position will be real big this week.”
