The Gehlen Catholic softball team did something they had not done since 2001 on Thursday night. They defeated Akron-Westfield for the second time in the season winning on Thursday by the score of 6-3.
The Westerners have been the team everyone in the area has been tailing behind for a long time in the sport of softball. Gehlen Catholic head coach Tony Kerkvliet spent a lot of years playing the Westerners at West Lyon, so he knows how special it is to beat the Westerners at any point in the season.
Gehlen was able to score first and keep the pressure on in the middle innings while also keeping the Westerner bats down over the first five innings. Coach Kerkvliet says all of that in combo led to a great performance.
In spite of being down 6-0 going in the sixth inning, Akron-Westfield found a way to scratch three runs across and managed to get the tying run to the plate in the seventh inning. Head coach Rachel Harris says she liked that effort but would have liked it more had it started earlier in the game.
The Westerners fell behind early due to a handful of misplays by their defense prolonging innings for Gehlen. Coach Harris says it was disappointing with the good effort put forth in the circle by Avery Gaswint.
Meanwhile, Gehlen Catholic’s defense was shutting down Westerner at bats all throughout the night. With a lot of soft contact on the infield, Coach Kerkvliet says he was extremely pleased with the play of his infielders.
Akron-Westfield falls to 12-7 overall and 7-3 in the War Eagle Conference with the loss. The Westerners play right away on Friday in a couple of games in Sioux City. Coach Harris says the girls have to have short memories before taking the field again.
The Jays continue to have tough matchups throughout the rest of the season with ranked teams like St. Edmond, Remsen St. Mary’s, and West Monona still on the schedule. Coach Kerkvliet says it is important that the Jays take care of what they can take care of instead of worrying about their opponents.
With their results on the weekend, Gehlen Catholic heads into the new week at 12-9 overall and 7-3 in the War Eagle Conference. Akron-Westfield heads into the new week at 14-7 and 7-3 in the conference.
