MONTAGUE — Whitehall’s bats enjoyed their biggest day of the year Tuesday, earning a West Michigan Conference Lakes sweep of rival Montague by scores of 23-1 and 8-6.
The first game was a tour de force for Whitehall’s bats, which rang up 21 hits collectively, with five players getting three or more. Evelyn Darke led the way with four hits, including a pair of solo home runs. Annabel Kevwitch drove in four runs on her three hits, getting the scoring started with a RBI triple in the first inning. Bella Fogus plated three on three hits. Janie Fagan and Harper Leon also got three hits apiece. Kierra Hyrns added two hits. Megan LeaTrea allowed four hits in the win.
“The big thing I noticed today is that the kids played as a team,” Whitehall coach Kyle McGrew said. “Megan pitched a great game and the defense was solid behind her. Everything seemed to come together at a great time.”
Montague struggled with self-inflicted miscues, issuing seven walks and making four errors. Passed balls and an inability to get throws in quickly were also factors as Whitehall posted three or more runs in all five innings of the opener. Reagan Cederquist delivered Montague’s only run with a solo home run.
“In the first game, we let mistakes get in the way, causing the game to get away from us,” Montague coach Randall Mikkelsen said.” We are a young team that still is learning how to play past errors and or mental mistakes. Not to take anything away from Whitehall, they absolutely pounded the softball and earned that win regardless of our mistakes.”
Game two appeared to be headed the same direction when Whitehall pushed three runs across to break open a 3-3 tie, then added two more in the fourth. However, Montague battled back, scoring once in the fifth and twice in the sixth before the game was called for darkness. Gentry Knop and Sophia Beishuizen drove in runs in the sixth after Kennedy Johnson did so in the fifth. Mikkelsen said the ‘Cats displayed mental toughness by not letting game two meet the same fate as the opener.
“We took a different approach at the plate and made it a close softball game,” Mikkelsen said. “If we play the rest of the season like we played in the second game tonight, we will be fine.”
The Vikings displayed some resolve of their own early in game two to bounce back from Montague’s scoring twice on an error in the first inning. Bella Fogus responded by lacing a RBI double in the bottom of the inning, and Taylor Ottinger delivered a third-inning RBI single to help break open the tie game. Fogus and Ottinger added an RBI single apiece in the fourth.
LeaTrea again pitched for Whitehall and earned the win, allowing just two earned runs and fanning nine in six innings.
“We just need to ride this momentum coming into Thursday and Friday against Mona Shores and Spring Lake,” McGrew said. “The ability is there and it showed up today.”
