By Staff
The Niles Nitro travel softball team went 2-2 at Shamrock Showdown in South Bend, Ind. this past weekend.
The Nitro defeated the Portage Hurricanes and the Michiana Wildkatz.
Niles lost to the Indiana Rockets and to Indiana Rebels.
Indiana Rockets…7
Niles Nitro…4
The Niles Nitro after a month off of tournaments came out rusty in their first game back committing three errors and allowing five runs in the first inning to eventually lose 7-4 to the Indiana Rockets.
After going down 5-0 in the first inning, Nitro bounced back in the top half of the second with a walk to Kierra Fillwock, followed by singles by Megan McKeel and Rachel Bonek to get on the board. Brittany Schmidt drove in the second run with a ground out to cut the lead to 5-2.
After another unearned run in the bottom of the second, Nitro rallied for two more runs in the top of the fourth. Courtney Ankrapp led off the inning with a single, Kylee Myer reached base on a hard hit ball to short. McKeel and Bonek both singled driving in runs respectively to cut it to 6-4 and threatened with two runners in scoring position but could not get them home.
Nitro gave up one run in the fourth and the game ended due to time. Megan McKeel took the loss, walking four and striking out three, allowing only one earned run. Leading hitters for the Nitro were McKeel, Bonek with two singles and Ankrapp with one single.
Portage Hurricanes…1
Niles Nitro…13
In a much different game, Niles Nitro came out with stellar pitching by Tala Gentry and great hitting and some help from the Portage Hurricane defense to defeat the Portage Hurricanes 13-1 in four innings.
Nitro gave up one more unearned run in the first inning to trail 1-0. In the bottom of the first with the first two batters out, Gentry got it started with a single, three consecutive errors lead to a three run first inning. Nitro got two more runs in the second on singles by Candyce Peppers and Olivia Jordan. In the third, Gentry led off with a single followed by RBI singles from Myer and Fillwock and an RBI by Brittany Schmidt to stretch the lead to 9-1.
In the bottom of the fourth Nitro ended the game by the 12 run rule. Tegan Bays led off with a walk, singles by Jordan and Courtney Ankrapp scored Bays. Gentry then doubled home two and scored the last run on an RBI double from Fillwock
Gentry was the winning pitcher allowing only three hits, one walk while striking out six, pushing her record to 2-0.
Gentry went 3-3 at the plate with a double; Jordan went 2-for-2 with two singles. Ankrapp, Myer, Fillwock and Peppers each had one hit.
Niles Nitro…9
Michiana Wildkatz…3
Nitro gave up two unearned runs in the top of the second to trail 2-0, but exploded in the bottom half of the inning scoring eight runs (max allowed for an inning).
Myer led off with a single, Fillwock followed with another single then Bonek got up and drove a deep shot into right center for an inside-the-park home run to give Nitro the lead 3-2.
Schmidt continued the rally with a sharp single to right center followed by a walk to Peppers, three fielders choices later and Nitro had scored two more runs pushing the lead to 5-2. With bases loaded Ankrapp delivered a single to score two more runs making it 7-2.
Jordan scored from third on a pass ball to finish out the maximum runs per inning rule at eight. Niles added one more insurance run in the third making it 9-2.
With one out Myer singled and stole second, Fillwock singled her in. Nitro gave up another unearned run in the fourth to finish the scoring at 9-3.
Brittany Schmidt pitched an outstanding game picking up her first win allowing only two hits, no earned runs and struck out nine. Nitro was led in hitting by Myer, Fillwock and Schmidt who all went 2-for-2, while Bonek added a Home Run and singles by Ankrapp and Tegan Bays.
Indiana Rebels…12
Niles Nitro…0
Nitro lost in the semi-final game 12-0 to Indiana Rebels. The Rebels were undefeated coming in to this game.
Nitro played three solid innings only trailing 1-0 when the Rebels bats heated up scoring three in the third and eight in the fourth to eventually win 12-0. Tala Gentry took the loss making her record 2-1 on the year.
Nitro only managed three singles by Jordan, Fillwock and Schmidt. The lone bright spot was a great running catch by Morgan Richer in Centerfield.
"This was a tough weekend and we faced some good competition and will take what we learned and continue to work hard and improve," Nitro coach Rick McKeel said.