Solon, Mount Vernon battle to a Wamac Conference softball split

MOUNT VERNON — Youth can be used as a crutch. Or an excuse.

For the Solon softball team Monday night, it was neither.

“We could be something special. Really special,” pitcher Maddyn Gates said after the Class 3A 11th-ranked Spartans earned a Wamac Conference split with No. 6 Mount Vernon at Van Metre Family Softball Field.

Gates, a freshman, doubled home the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth inning as the Spartans claimed the opener, 4-3.

Mount Vernon salvaged the nightcap, 7-4.

Solon’s season-opening lineup featured five freshmen and an eighth-grader.

“(Getting a split), it’s awesome,” Gates said. “I thought our defense was awesome. They helped me a lot.”

The Spartans (1-1 overall, 1-1 Wamac) built a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning with assistance from two Mount Vernon errors. The Mustangs (1-1, 1-1) got even with single tallies in the sixth (Kenna Rollinger singled home Olivia Haverback) and seventh (Haverback knocked in Abbie Moss).

Izzy Frees opened the top of the eighth with a single, then moved to second on Keegan Kleppe’s sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Gates doubled Frees home.

“You’ve got to go into the box confident,” Gates said. “You’ve got to make contact. Relax, and let it go.”

Solon Coach Brad Holub said, “We did a lot of things well. This was a good one to build on.”

In the nightcap, Mount Vernon broke a 3-3 tie with four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Addison Gookin’s two-run double was the big blow.

Mount Vernon’s Libby Dix was 4-for-4 in Game 2.

“When you play Solon, it’s always going to be high-energy. There’s going to be a lot of emotion,” Mustangs Coach Robin Brand said. “We had some missed opportunities in the first game, but we’re going to be good — very good, actually.”

Solon 3-4, Mount Vernon 2-7 (1st, 8)

At Mount Vernon

Game 1

Solon 000 200 01 — 3 4 2

Mount Vernon 000 001 10 — 2 8 2

Maddyn Gates and Avery Babbitt. Hayden Gookin and Kenna Rollinger. W — Gates (1-0). L — Gookin (0-1).

Game 2

Solon 000 030 1 — 4 9 4

Mount Vernon 030 040 x — 7 10 1

Zoey Grimm, Emerson Miller (2), Laeni Hinkle (5) and Addie Miller. Olivia Haverback and Kenna Rollinger. W — Haverback (1-0). LP — Miller (0-1).

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com