Sports News Aug 18th - Aug 24th
Softball Team Wins Season Opener
by Amanda Hammer
Pierce’s Lady Jays had their first game of the 2014 season on Thursday, August 21, against the Wisner-Pilger Gators. The Lady Jays came home from Wisner with a victory of 5 to 2.
To start off the first inning, the Lady Jays’ Rachelle Tucker hit a single, followed by a bunt from Hailey Race that sent Tucker to third. Synthia Schuett hit Tucker home, and in her turn at the plate, Hannah Higgins was able to bring Race home as well, bringing the Jays’ score to 2 before three outs were up. Defensively, the Lady Jays let one run slip by in the first inning to start the game with the lead.
In the second inning, the Lady Jays didn’t perform as strongly on offense. They sent three to the plate to come right back, but that wasn’t stopping them on defense. The Gators’ Liermann went up to the plate and hit a double, and stole all the way home, but the Lady Jays allowed no one else on the Gator side to score the rest of the inning, or in fact, the rest of the game.
The Lady Jays came alive in the third inning with Tucker hitting a double and stealing all the way back home. Ahead by only two, the Lady Jays had to stay strong on defense, and so they did. Although the Jays had a Gator sitting on third, they gave Wisner-Pilger no opportunity to score anymore. Reinke struck out the next two at-bats and got the third out at first.
In the fourth inning, the Lady Jays hit a bit of a snag offensively when they sent three batters to the plate who each struck out. To keep their lead, the Jays needed to hold the Gators on defense, and that’s just what they did. Reinke struck out the first at-bat, and later with runners on first and second, struck out two more to cause no extra runs in that inning for the Gators.
Offensively in the fifth inning, Tucker hit a double but wasn’t able to make it home before three outs were up. The Lady Jays continued fighting back on defense. The first at-bat was out in a matter of seconds with the help of first baseman Tucker. And before the Jays knew it, they were back up to bat again with no runs made by the Gators in that inning.
In the sixth inning, the first two Lady Jays up to bat got out, but things turned around when Higgins got a walk to first and stole her way back home. Reinke then hit a double and stole third, but didn’t get to finish before three outs were made. On defense, between two strikeouts from Reinke and an out at first, the Lady Jays held the Gators to no runs yet again.
To start the seventh inning, Annie Johnson hit a double and stole all the way home to give the Lady Jays a three-point lead. The Lady Jays managed no more runs in the final inning, so they had to hold the Gators on defense. The first at-bat for the Gators was an out in the air, and no one got very far after that. The Lady Jays did give up first base, but Reinke struck a Gator out, and the Lady Jays finished hard for that last out, keeping the Gators to no runs and maintaining the lead to grab their first win of the season.
Individually, Reinke pitched a solid game with 11 strikeouts, earning her the honor of being chosen Max Preps’ player of the game. In batting, Tucker led with two doubles and two runs.
Head coach Jamie Stark said, “The team played very well for the first game, and it’s a great start to the season.”
The Lady Jays’ next game was Saturday, August 23, when they played a tournament at Wayne. They then took the field again against Leigh on Tuesday, August 26. They will play next in the Wisner-Pilger tournament on Saturday, August 30.
Golf Team Swings into Action
by Krystina Schuett
Swinging their way into the start of season, the PHS girls’ golf team had their first meet in O’Neill on Thursday, August 21. The day ended with the team placing 6th overall out of ten teams with a total score of 483.
The girls all did well in their opening meet with Breanna Attema placing 6th with a score of 97, Kim Carlson 20th with a score of 114, Bailey Tinker 21st with a score of 115, and Paige Johnson 42nd with a score of 157.
Senior Attema put in a lot of time and practice to help her do well at meets. To place in the top ten, “makes [her] feel like all [her] hard work has paid off,” Attema said.
Coach Melinda Stelling was very satisfied with the results of the meet. Stelling said, “All the girls golfed at or better than my expectations. I think we are only going to get better.”
The girls’ golf team’s next outing is Friday, August 29, in Wayne.
JV Lady Jays Crush Gators
By Merissa Harris
Pierce’s JV softball Lady Jays fought hard against the Wisner-Pilger Gators in their season opener and won the battle with a score of 11 to 4 on Thursday, August 22, in Wisner.
To start off the game in the first inning, the Lady Jays came out swinging. By the end of the first, the Lady Jays had leaped to a score of four. Defensively, the Lady Jays allowed three runs, so the Gators were right on their tails.
In the second inning the Lady Jays came out even stronger and pulled further past the Wisner-Pilger Gators with three more runs. On defense, the Lady Jays held their own, allowing no runs from the Gators and bringing the score to 7 to 3.
The third inning was scoreless for both teams, but in the fourth, the Lady Jays hammered away four more runs and allowed the Gators no runs to widen the gap and bring the score to 11 to 3, Lady Jays.
Due to time restrictions, the fifth inning would be the last. In the final inning, the Lady Jays managed no runs and allowed the Gators one run, which wasn’t nearly enough for the home team to close the gap, allowing the Lady Jays to slide past the Wisner-Pilger Gators for a final total score of 11 to 4.
Leading hitter was Hailey Race, and pitcher Annie Johnson had two strikeouts.
The next JV softball game was played on Tuesday, August 26, in Leigh. The JV Lady Jays will take the diamond again on Tuesday, September 2, at West Point.
Bluejays scrimmage in the Blue/White game
by Alec Price
Pierce High football’s annual Blue/White scrimmage took place Friday, August 22, with the win going to the Blue team.
The Blue team played offense for the entire game, and the white team played defense. The offense’s points were earned by getting touchdowns and field goals, and the defense could score by getting turnovers, interceptions, defensive touchdowns, and sacking the quarterback.
The game was designed so the team could have feel for the routine of football season, from the officiating to gearing up for the game.
Head coach Mark Brahmer said, “We as coaches try essentially to split the team in half and try to make the teams as even as possible.” He continued to say, “All in all, the game is a good dress rehearsal for the upcoming game against North Bend this Friday.”
Both teams played as hard as they could with pride and good sportsmanship, but the offensive Blue team came out with the win because of their experience behind the line with running the ball.
There were a few good passes and receptions in the game, but overall, running the ball was the key to victory for the Blue team. Quarterback Taggart Bailey had a game with a few completed passes to both of the leading receivers Johnnie Huff and Brady Starkel. Running back Collin Freeman led the game with most tackles along with leading in rushing yards with Collin Tinker, Cody Yawn and Dillon Dickey. Leading in points for the game was freshman Cody Yawn with two carries for touchdowns.
Some of the other stand-out players of the game according to coach Brahmer were Matt Penne, Zachary Brenden, Collin Freeman, and Austin Freeman.
Overall, the game went as planned except for one injury to Freshman Ashton Wragge.
Brahmer thinks his team still has a lot of work to do this week for their season opener, but if they play as hard as they can and play with Pierce pride, they could possibly come out with the win on in their first game, a road game against North Bend Friday, August 29.
Lady Jays Struggle in Wayne
by Hailey Race
Drawing Wayne right off the bat was both intimidating and encouraging for the varsity softball team as they took on a tournament on Saturday, August 23. The tourney was held in Wayne, and the Lady Jays faced the hosting team and lost 0 to 4, and then played Twin River and lost 7 to 12.
In the first inning with Wayne, the Lady Jays came up to bat first and went right into the struggle. With Rachelle Tucker and Hailey Race bringing up the first two outs, Hannah Higgins was the first to touch a base with a double to center field. Synthia Schuett brought up the third out. The Lady Jays took the field and held Wayne to no runs going three-up, three-down. A strike out from Kayla Reinke to start and two well-fielded balls from Annie Johnson and Schuett closed the inning and leave both teams scoreless.
Bringing up the second inning, Briana Polt was the first out, but Reinke cranked one to right field for a double. Johnson was hit by a pitch and sent to first, which moved Reinke to second. Desirae Druyor and Courtney Yawn brought up the second and third outs with strikeouts, and the Lady Jays were off for more defense. A triple was hit right away from Wayne, but Tucker caught the next one off of a fly ball. The next two outs came from the next four batters, and both teams were still left with zeros on the scoreboard.
To start the third inning, Tucker was thrown out at one, followed by another strike out from Race. Higgins drove a ball to first and was counted as the third out. Defensively, the Lady Jays struggled the third inning. With the top of the order up to bat, Wayne brought in four runs before the first out. With three back-to-back outs following the runs, Lady Jays trailed 0 to 4 after three innings.
Schuett started the fourth inning with a single for the Jays, and Polt did the same to move Schuett to second. Reinke, Johnson, and Druyor made up the three outs for that inning before either runner could make it to home plate. The Lady Jays come up strong on defense with another three-up, three-down to end the fourth. Lady Jays were still down 0 to 4.
In the fifth and final inning, the Lady Jays had a quick bat and had three out right away offensively. The Lady Jays could only scrape up one out before the timer went off, ending their first tournament game with a 0 to 4 loss.
Individually, Reinke threw a game of four strikeouts and Higgins lead the team in batting with a single and a double.
Despite the loss, assistant coach Kendra Aldag said “I thought the game went well. Wayne is a good team, and we were missing some of our starters.”
In the next game of the tournament the Lady Jays faced Twin River.
In the first inning, the Lady Jays were given the opportunity to score first, and they took advantage of that with Tucker getting a base hit. Race was the first out, followed by base hits from Higgins, Schuett, Polt, and Reinke. Johnson and Amanda Hammer finished the offensive side with the next two outs. Reinke threw a strikeout that started the defensive side. After three base hits, Twin River scored two runs, but the Lady Jays were up 5 to 2 after one inning.
The second inning was a struggle for the Lady Jays’ bats, and Twin River was rewarded three outs off of the first three at-bats for the Lady Jays. The Lady Jays gave up four runs in the second inning, which put them down 5 to 6.
In third inning, Higgins and Schuett both crossed the plate for another two runs with Polt, Reinke, and Johnson being the three outs. The Lady Jays struggled defensively this inning and gave up six runs to their opponents, which left them trailing behind with a score of 7 to 12.
In the fourth and final inning, the Lady Jays are again tangled up in the offensive area of the game and went scoreless. With the Lady Jays on the defensive side, the timer once again turned off the game, and the Lady Jays fell short with a final of 7 to 12.
Individually, the leading pitcher was Johnson, and Higgins and Polt lead the team in batting.
The loss could be chalked up to errors on the Lady Jays’ side. “We made a lot of mistakes we don’t make everyday in practice,” said assistant coach Aldag.
The following game for the softball Lady Jays was Tuesday, August 26, at Leigh. Their next game will be Saturday, August 30, in Wisner at 10 a.m.