Hawks, Royals split softball doubleheader

Playing a rare varsity softball doubleheader, Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn won the game that was most important against MMCRU. The second game, a 6-3 win by the Hawks on May 24 at Remsen, counts toward their War Eagle Conference record.

Pitcher Gracie Knobloch allowed eight hits and recorded 12 strikeouts. At the plate, the Hawks finished with 12 hits, including three each by Cadence Klein, Delaney Murphy and Kinsey Schirmer.

Klein singled in H-M-S's run in the second inning. After MMCRU scored twice in third, the Hawks answered with a two-run double by Murphy and a run-scoring double by Schirmer. Murphy drove in two more runs in the sixth with a single.

The Royals scored their final run in the seventh.

MMCRU won the opener, 10-0, scoring twice in the first, third and fifth innings. They added a run in the fourth and ended the game with three runs in the sixth.

The Hawks threatened to score in every inning but stranded nine runners. Murphy contributed two hits while Kamryn Ebel, Morgan Grooters, Alexis Grover, Abby Otto, Eliza Tewes, Klein and Knobloch each had one.

Ebel pitched the complete game, allowing 10 hits and 10 runs, with four walks and two strikeouts.

"The bats came alive in both games," Hawk coach Stephanie Bronstad noted. "We had some errors that we couldn't recover from, but overall we played well in both games. We ran the bases aggressively and pulled out the conference win."