Valley gets over ‘first-game jitters,’ beats Wawasee in opener

Gaerte leaves with apparent right knee injury; Bussard has 4 RBIs at plate, 11 Ks in circle

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Kaitlyn Threlkel Malaynie Costello

SYRACUSE — High school softball players can still get nervous before the season opener, even if they are junior or a senior.

Take Kaitlyn Threlkel, for instance. The Valley junior catcher admitted she was nervous prior to Valley season opener against host Wawasee Wednesday, but she settled down to bang out three hits and drive in two runs and perhaps make the game’s biggest defensive play as Valley claimed a 17-8 win.

Wawasee led 3-0 after three innings, but the Lady Vikings took advantage of a dropped pop-up from Wawasee’s catcher to score eight runs in the fourth to go ahead for good.

Threlkel was not the only Valley player to hammer Lady Warrior pitching.

Malaynie Costello, Dalynne Bussard and Temperance Caudill each added three hits, and KC Shriver and Minda Shriver had two hits each.

Bussard had four RBIs, including a two-run single in the eight-run fourth and a two-run triple in a seven-run seventh in which Valley pulled away after Wawasee had cut the deficit to 10-7.

Bussard also pitched a seven-hitter. She allowed four earned runs and fanned 11.

Costello had an RBI bunt single in the fourth, an RBI infield single in the fifth and an RBI single in the seventh.

Shortstop KC Shriver also had two RBIs out of the leadoff spot in the batting order.

Valley sophomore first baseman Naomi Gaerte left with an apparent right knee injury in the top of the sixth. After hitting a ground ball to third, she tried to run to first but collapsed in the batters box and had to be helped off the field.

Minda Shriver moved from second base to first base, and Kylie Cunningham entered at second base for Valley. Gaerte hit .246 with a .734 OPS last year as a freshman.

She is also the team’s No. 2 pitcher behind Bussard.

“It got stuck in the batters box,” Valley coach Brian Barger said. “Just some loose dirt. The knee popped when she tried to turn her hips on it. It got stuck. Just a freak accident. Hopefully, we’ll see how the results come back tonight, and we’ll see if she can bounce back soon. … Her mom was taking her to the emergency room.”

Valley led 10-6 going into the bottom of the sixth when Threlkel stood out from behind the plate. Ashlynn Corn led off with an infield single, and Hadley Allen lined a single to move her to second. Heatherlynn Holder laid down a sacrifice bunt, and when the throw to get her at first was dropped for an error, Corn scored.

Wawasee then tried a double steal, but Threlkel gunned Allen down at third base, and Wawasee would not score again in the inning.

“I was really nervous the whole game, so my first couple throws were bad obviously, but once I got it, it felt good, and I felt the connection with KC there,” Threlkel said.

Threlkel said she has played softball for 12 years, but she still felt nervous.

“First-game jitters,” Threlkel said.

They would strand two when KC Shriver made a nice stop in the hole and threw to Costello at third for a forceout to retire the side.

As the game descended into darkness and with Wawasee’s field without lights, Valley sent 12 more batters to the plate.

KC Shriver had an RBI double, Costello had an RBI single, Manns drove in a run when her grounder to short was booted for an error, and Bussard ripped an opposite-field triple to deep right to make it 15-7. Threlkel added an RBI groundout, and Cunningham later scored on a throwing error.

Wawasee committed five errors in the inning and 10 for the game. Valley only drew two walks, but they pounded out 17 hits.

“First game,” Barger said of the offensive turnaround. “The offense, I knew, was probably going to be slowing. … We did some live pitching the other day in practice, but we’re in game situations, and it’s a little bit different. I knew it was going to be a challenge. I was hoping to maybe put one on the board, but I knew we would break out. We have a pretty good middle of the order with Dalynne and Kahlyn and Naomi, and Minda Shriver stepped up as a freshman and got a couple hits. Temperance put the ball in play. That helps out.

“I told them that was one of my main goals: We’ve got to cut down the strikeouts. Make them field the ball. And you see what happens when they put the ball in play. Things happen for us.”

The first three innings were not like the last four. Valley went down in order in the first and stranded two runners in the third against Wawasee sophomore pitcher Olivia Krichbaum.

Gaby Gonzalez, a senior making her first career varsity appearance in right field, led off the third with a bunt single, but she was thrown out trying to steal when she overslid second.

The inning ended when Allen made a diving catch to rob Kahlyn Manns.

Bussard held Wawasee hitless through two innings, but they scored three times off her in the third.

Bussard walked Holder, the No. 9 batter. She stole second and advanced to third when Marijo Bontrager’s fly to left was dropped when the left fielder and center fielder collided.

Bontrager reached second on the play. A passed ball allowed Holder to score and Bontrager to reach third.

Kirra Alvarez’s squeeze bunt made it 2-0.

Audra Weaver tripled to right and later stole home, timing Threlkel’s throw back to Bussard in the circle and immediately taking off and beating the throw back home to make it 3-0.

Wawasee’s lead was short-lived.

Bussard scored from third on a wild throw on a snap pickoff throw attempt.

But with two outs and the bases loaded, Wawasee had a chance to escape with only one run scoring after Krichbaum struck out pinch-hitter Makenzey Morton.

KC Shriver hit a pop-up in front of the plate along the first baseline about two steps in front of the plate. The catcher missed it completely. The ball might have spun foul, but it deflected off the catcher’s leg while she was standing in fair territory.

Cunningham scored and the bases remained loaded.

Barger then called for Costello to bunt with the bases loaded and two outs. She got down the bunt, and Caudill beat the throw to the plate. That tied the game.

Manns then hit a liner at the second baseman, but she dropped it for an error. That brought in Minda Shriver, and when the second baseman compounded her error with a wild throw to the plate, KC Shriver also scored, and Costello and Manns moved up to second and third.

Wawasee coach Wayne McCoy then let Krichbaum pitch to Bussard, who has a .479 career batting average, with first base open. Bussard foiled the strategy by hitting a hot grounder up the middle for a two-run single.

She went to second on the throw home and scored on Threlkel’s RBI double.

“I think I did pretty well,” Threlkel said of her hitting. “I got out of my slump from last year, and I’m feeling pretty confident right now. … Because last year, I feel like if I made a mistake, it was a lot more affecting me mentally, and now I can just let it go. So I think I’ve improved in that way.”

KC Shriver’s squeeze bunt and Costello’s RBI infield hit in the fifth made it 10-3 off Allen, pitching in relief.

Abbagail Willey’s two-run double and Tatum Thorn’s bloop single in the bottom half cut the lead to 10-6.

Krichbaum returned to the circle to start the sixth.

As for Bussard, she threw an estimated 150 pitches.

“It’s so hard,” Threlkel said of catching Bussard in the dark. “I could not see anything. I was just sticking my glove out and praying I caught it.”

Tippecanoe Valley 17, Wawasee 8

Valley 000 820 7 – 17 17 5

Wawasee 003 031 1 – 8 7 10

WP – Dalynne Bussard (7 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 11 K)

LP – Olivia Krichbaum (6 IP, 15 H, 15 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K)

2B – Kaitlyn Threlkel (TV), KC Shriver (TV), Abbagail Willey (WAW)

3B – Dalynne Bussard (TV), Audra Weaver (WAW)