Washington softball team blanks Columbus Wednesday

COLUMBUS JUNCTION ? The Washington Demons softball team won in a game against the Wildcats Wednesday, May 24, by shutting out their hosts 8-0 in a non-conference game.

It was all Washington from the start as Kinsey Duwa crossed the plate first in the second inning.

Getting the run was nice, she says. ?We started off kind of slow, so getting that first run was exciting,? she says.

?I was hoping for more quick runs in the game but we got it back in the seventh inning and I was happy about that.

?Getting that first run was exciting, but I was hoping to score a few more runs than I did.?

The bats would stay quiet for Washington in the third and fourth innings but would come alive in the fifth as Megan Mitchell scored followed by Morgan Brinning, Duwa and Kaitlyn Mitchell. The score was 5-0 after five innings of play.

Columbus would try to rally, but Washington held them back as Brinning scored in the sixth to add another run to the scoreboard.

Washington kept their dominance in the game in the seventh when Haylee Wilson would score and Megan Mitchell would get the final run of the game giving the win to the Demons.

Scoring a total of eight runs and working together as a team is something Duwa enjoys.

?I like to see that, especially in our conference games. It really helps out a lot.?

?It?s good to get a win,? says coach Ben Obermann, ?but we would have liked to play a little bit better; we left 14 on base.

?We struggled offensively with our approach until about the last few innings, but [pitcher] Molly Sparks is just outstanding. When she?s that good, we?re going to be tough to beat.

?We will get it rolling where we can put everything together and the offense will come together.

?We are going to enjoy this one, but we?re definitely not satisfied knowing we have some work to do with our offensive approach.?

The girls play in a conference game at Fort Madison Friday, May 26. What is Duwa expecting?

?It might seem kind of confident, but we are hoping for a sweep,? she says.

?Last year, as a team, we split with them. The second time we played, we should have won that game, so we are hoping to redeem ourselves a little bit and get our conference season started off pretty well.?

Obermann says they are going to work on the offense during practice Thursday.

?We?re playing good defense right now,? he says. ?We?ll still do a little drill work defensively, but we?re going to hit a lot during practice and put together a hitting circuit.

?We?re going to see a notch up pitching-wise as well. We?re going to see two pitchers we saw last year, but we?re going with the mindset that we want to start 2-0 in conference play. The girls are hungry for that.?

The game at Fort Madison starts at 5:30 p.m.