Photo by Mario Cabrera
Ryan Paris
Student Sports Media
The Butler Softball team remained undefeated after their pair of matchups on the road against Barton and Colby. Both matchups were made up of doubleheaders, and the games against Barton were held on Friday, April 7, while Colby’s games were held on Saturday, April 8.
All four games could be dubbed as “the perfect performances”, as the games featured lots of quality hitting and pitching. Their first game against Barton ended in a final score of 10-0, while the second game was 11-1. Regan Mergele picked up her 15th win of the season in the first game, and her record now stands at 15-0. Butler also featured plenty of power, as Kenzie Young, Becca Schulte, Darrianne Hale and Celina Sullivan all had home runs in the game, helping propel Butler to the win.
The second game was more of the same for the Grizzlies, as Mergele then brought her record to 16-0 after she pitched three innings, only giving up one earned run. Hale was the main highlight on the offensive side, as she clubbed two home runs in the second game, giving her three total home runs in the Barton games.
Butler continued to impress in all phases, when they took on Dodge City and Pratt on Wednesday, April 12, and Thursday, April 13, respectively. While their offense continued their consistent hitting, their pitching was the focus of those games. The Butler pitching staff did not give up any runs to the opposition, shutting out both Pratt and Dodge City in both games of the doubleheaders. Mergele continued her impressive season, as she picked up her 19th and her 20th wins on the season. The Butler offense continued to impress too, as they combined to score 51 runs in the pair of doubleheaders last week.
Heading into the games against Garden City, Head Coach Doug Chance had some concerns about facing the Seward County pitching.
“Hopefully, we’ll lay off that rise ball,” he said. “They’ve got a pitcher who’s pretty good, that’s striking out a lot of batters. We just got to lay off her rise ball, and if we can do that, I think we’ll be okay.”
Butler seemed to have no problems with her pitching, as they scored 10 runs in both games of the doubleheaders, en route to their 80th win in a row, dating back to last season.
They tried to extend their win streak against Garden City on the road on Wednesday, April 19.