Rails softball girls blank Bulldogs

SPOONER — Behind the solid winning pitching of Annalie Lindgren, who threw all 7 innings and recorded 12 strikeouts, the Spooner Rails softball team earned a 6-0 shutout win against Chetek/Weyerhaeuser on April 9.

Peyton Steines went 2/2 at the plate and drew a walk and 1 RBI. Lindgren went 2/3 at the plate with 1 RBI, helping her own pitching effort. Lily Bauer had 2 RBIs, and Isabella Ripley had 1 RBI for the Rails.

“It was good to see our defense play well last night,” said Spooner coach Brian Amys. “When the ball was put in play, we made the routine plays and did not have an error. Big improvements from what I saw this last weekend when we played in a tournament.

“I would like to see our bats come alive and that will be a focus for us as we move into the season here. We need to put the bat on the ball and force the defense to make plays.

For the first game of conference play, it always feels good to get the win, but I also left the game with a list of things that we need to improve on to reach our full potential and meet our goals for the season. We have some big games in the next 10 days and we need to take every opportunity as a learning one, grow from mistakes and improve every single day.”

Coach Amys is optimistic about the Rails softball season and the team.

“This team has an opportunity to play some really good softball against some quality opponents; we need to make sure we have done everything on our end to prepare and have the team ready to just go out and play,” he said.

On Thursday, April 18, the Rails girls go on the road for a Heart O’ North Conference game at Hayward, starting at 5 p.m. On Friday, April 19, Spooner returns home to host St. Croix Falls at 5 p.m.