The Hartford Sparx 18U softball team finished 3-1-1 in five games in Pierre on Saturday, June 19th and Sunday, June 20th.
Hartford opened the weekend with a 13-1 win over the OhNos on Saturday. The Sparx scored 11 times in the bottom of the first inning and held OhNos to just two total hits in the game.
Brooke Opitz had three hits, including a triple, and two RBIs. Avery Evans had two hits, one a double, and an RBI. Grace Harden also had two hits and an RBI. Olivia Brown finished with two hits, one of them a double. McKenna Sichmeller had a hit with two RBIs. Addy Kramer had a double with an RBI. Jenna Lueth had a hit and RBI, and Riley Morrison had a hit. Harden pitched four innings allowing one run, which was unearned, on two hits with eight strikeouts.
The Sparx scored five times in the bottom of the third and held on to beat SD The Assault 18U by a score of 5-4. Brown had a double with two RBIs in the game. Caitlyn Maa also had a double and an RBI. Opitz, Harden, Evans, Taylor Kunzweiler, and Lueth all collected a single in the game. Kunzweiler pitched five innings allowing four earned runs on five hits with seven walks and a strikeout.
The third game of the day on Saturday was against the Jamestown Outlaws. Both teams scored a run in the first inning, and then the game remained scoreless finishing in a 1-1 tie. Jamestown had four hits, while Hartford had five hits in the game. Kramer had two of the five hits and an RBI. Optiz, Maa, and Sichmeller each had a hit. Harden pitched four innings allowing an earned run on four hits with three walks and nine strikeouts.
In the first game on Sunday, Hartford scored five times in the first two innings and finished the win over Black Hills Synergy by a scored of 7-2. Harden had three hits with two RBIs. Opitiz had two hits, one of them a double. Sichmeller also had two hits. Kramer had a hit with three RBIs. Evans had a single and an RBI. Brown, Lueth and Morrison also had singles. Kunzweiler pitched four innings allowing two earned runs on five hits with a walk and four strikeouts. Harden pitched one inning and finished with two strikeouts.
The Sparx met the Jamestown Outlaws again in their final game on Sunday. This time the Outlaws scored two runs in the first, second and third innings while holding the Sparx to single runs in the second, third, and fourth innings. The Outlaws handed Hartford their only loss, 6-3. Morrison had two hits and an RBI. Brown had a single and an RBI. Sichmeller added a double. Opitz, Maa, Kramer, and Lueth all had singles in the game. Harden had an RBI as well. Harden pitched 3 2/3 innings allowing six earned runs on eight hits with three walks and six strikeouts.