Columbus plays 4 softball doubleheaders in busy week

COLUMBUS JUNCTION — Columbus has a record of 5-3, but that is its record this week.

Saturday’s softball games at Hillcrest, a 16-3 win over the Ravens then a 9-3 loss to English Valleys, were the seventh and eighth games of the week for Columbus.

There was a 16-5(5), 9-5 sweep of Mediapolis in a Thursday doubleheader, a 5-0, 6-2 sweep of Lone Tree Monday, then swept by Class 2A No. 3 Louisa-Muscatine, 16-5, 15-5 Tuesday.

All were Super Conference North Division games, except English Valleys, to put the Wildcats at 6-5, fifth in the nine-team division.

Julie Sosa batted in two Wildcats and Emma Milder three in Thursday’s opener. Libby White struck out six without a walk with three earned runs from nine hits for the win.

Lily Coil pitched the nightcap win with 10 strikeouts, seven hits, three walks and one earned run. At the plate, she laced a triple in the first game and a double in the second game, going a combined 5-for-7.

“She works hard in the offseason with her travel ball team, the Monsters,“ Columbus coach Katie Coil said. ”So far, I am pleased with how the season is going.“

The Wildcats have a 9-12 overall record, the first time since 2015 there have been more than six wins in a season.

“We have great team chemistry,” coach Coil said. “We have the want and drive to be a successful program.”

Coil, who has been a coach at Columbus for the past nine years and the head coach for the past three, introduced her team to the 1991 Columbus state tournament team Thursday at a ceremony that honored that accomplishment.

It was quite a feat, considering there was no class system until 1994 when the state was divided into three classes.

“We all wanted to do whatever work was needed to win,” Wendy Edwards, a third baseman on the 1991 team.

“It is fun to see these girls win because that’s what we did,” said Amy Phillips. “It was a collective effort.”

Columbus ends its doubleheader spree after playing two at Pekin Monday, then there are four regular season games remaining.