By DAVID WOOD, for The Democrat
To follow their season-opening demolition of Seymour, the Brown County High School varsity softball team squared off against Columbus East on April 6 at Eagle Park.
Despite temperatures as low as 32 and wind gusts up to 20 mph, the squad showed little sign of cooling off. The Eagles nearly shut out the Olympians, winning 7-1, building upon their first 6-1 victory with another near-perfect outing.
Kevin Greve, the 30-year-old head coach and Brown County AP history teacher, was pleased with his team’s performance.
“It was a good game. It’s really hard to tell what’s going on sometimes when it’s this cold and windy,” he said. “In these conditions, not everyone is playing to the level you’d expect, but I think it’s a solid win … 7-1 feels good.”
Greve said his team still has room to grow and spread its wings. However, despite the weather, he was pleased to simply get them time outside and on the diamond.
“As always, there’s a lot to work on and build on. And they will, they’ll keep getting better. It was nice to play tonight; we haven’t been outside here for a while, so it’s good.”
With the two recent wins, Greve feels one of the stronger aspects of his team has been players’ ability to quickly create offensive pressure.
“As far as our hitting goes … both games we’ve done really well so far just jumping out on teams and scoring two in the first inning,” he said. “That’s what you want; you want to really put some pressure on the other team.”
However, he expressed concern at losing offensive momentum. “The bats got cold as the game went on, and I think our girls got cold, too, so that’s something they’re going to keep working through and they’ll get better at.”
Considering the Eagles held Columbus to a single run, which only came through in the top of the seventh and final inning, the players were no slouches on defense either.
“Emma (Summers) pitching right now is doing a fantastic job, and the defense behind her is working to stay loose and stay after it. They’re doing good things,” he said. “So right now, with our lack of being outside, I’m very happy with where we are at.”
Mark Bruner, the BCHS athletics director, agreed with Greve while also highlighting the team’s communication and camaraderie.
“The team played well together, in comparisons from last year to this year. In just this short amount of time, the communication on the field seems to be all in sync. There aren’t many people not listening and not being a part of the game,” he said.
“Right now, at the start of the year, I’m feeling pretty good about where we’re at.”
Looking into the future, Greve hopes to keep the winning streak rolling as the weather clears and his team plays later into the season.
“We’re 2-0 to start the season now. … Hopefully we can get into a rhythm and start playing some games here.”
Greve also appreciated the recent fan turnout at the first two games. He hopes it continues Saturday, April 14 for the Brown County invitational, an entire field day consisting of tournament play between multiple teams.
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Gracie Bay, Whitney Clark, Sara Fishel, Kylie Herald, Aubrey Hollander, Adriana Kritzer, Marlie Nichols, Taylor Poling, Emma Quackenbush, Myka Snyder, Allison Stogsdill, Emma Summers
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