By DON EDEN
Vigilant/Argus

A tale of two triumphs occurred as the baseball team of Cassopolis duplicated the counterpart softball squad from Watervliet Grace Christian in commanding doubleheader victories.

A quartet of juniors provided mound wins with Brandon Davis and Rick Hayden mounting stellar performances for the Rangers as Rebecca Dallas and Brittany Smith were underhanding defeats from the visitors.

Davis pitched a five-inning no-hitter with seven strikeouts in the opening 13-1 Cassopolis (7-2) mismatch with Hayden allowing a single base hit and five strikeouts in the 17-0 nightcap which was mercifully called off in the third stanza.

“Brandon did a phenomenal job for pitching in his first game this year after allowing his only two walks in the first inning,” stated Cassopolis coach Matt Brawley.  “The curve ball was working very, very well and was throwing it for strikes, but we have six good arms with no difference among them.”

Hayden and classmate Tommy First each had a pair of singles against sophomore Matt Ross of Watervliet Grace Christian (1-7) with sophomores Nate Blad and Taylor Baker each collecting a double.

The fist inning of the second game witnessed First sending his second homerun of the year over the left centerfield fence with a pair of teammates on base to lead the onslaught with Blad getting three hits including a double.

“We still have a lot to improve on as we committed seven errors in one inning last week, but it makes me happy we are throwing strikes and hitting very well,” noted Brawley.  “This is a very young team with great attitudes and are very coachable.”

Watervliet Grace Christian (3-5) also has a very young team that was successful on the softball diamond by scoring 16 runs in both games with Cassopolis (2-8) crossing home plate only once in the second inning of the second encounter.

“We were mercied both games to start the season against number two Decatur, but we were better than how we have been playing,” explained Grace coach John Jewell.  “A lot has been going on at school and we were more focused tonight.”

Sophomore Kristin Rumer was the hitting star with five hits total with a double in the first and triple in the second game as she sent a trio of runners home in each victory.  Knocking in a pair of teammates apiece were junior Andria Wolske with a double in the opener and triples in the nightcap were achieved by 8th-grader Jenna Riedel and Smith.

Leading off the second stanza with a triple down the rightfield line was Cassopolis senior Courtney Foster and she scored when sophomore Serena Sawyer had a single off Smith on the mound.

The Rangers loaded the bases with nobody out, but was thwarted of another score and the only base hit of the first game was by senior pitcher Olivia Stewart.

“We have three starters out with injuries so we are struggling playing young girls not ready for varsity,” said Cassopolis coach Rich Grahl.  “We will keep learning from experience with playing time as we hope to be stronger by tournament time when some of our injured return.”

Baseball
First game
Grace Christian 100 00  – 1 0 0
Cassopolis 802 03 – 13 13 1
WP – Brandon Davis
LP – Matt Ross
Hitters – Tommy First 2 singles; Rick Hayden 2 singles; Nate Blad double; Taylor Baker double.

Second game
Grace Christian  000 – 0 1  3
Cassopolis  746 – 17 14 0
WP – Rick Hayden
LP –  Jake Kerber
Hitters – Tommy First home run; Nate Blad 2 singles and double.
Records: Cassopolis (7-2); Watervliet Grace Christian (1-7)

Softball
First game
Grace Christian  284 2 – 16  8
Cassopolis  000 0 –  0 1
WP – Rebecca Dallas
LP – Olivia Stewart
Hitters – Kristin Rumer single and double; Jenny Johnson 2 singles; Andria Wolske double
Second game
Grace Christian 350 71 – 16 8
Cassopolis  010 00 – 1 3
WP – Brittany Smith
Losing pitcher – Olivia Stewart
Hitters – (CA) Courtney Foster triple. Kristin Rumer 2singles and triple; Jenna Riedel single and triple; Brittany Smith triple.
Records: Cassopolis (2-8); Watervliet Grace Christian (3-5)