Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Solon twice erased one-run deficits while winning the opener of a WAMAC cross-divisional doubleheader with rival Clear Creek Amana on Wednesday.

That was nothing compared to the comeback the Spartans had in store for the nightcap.  

Class 3A fifth-ranked Solon dug itself out of a 5-0 first-inning hole to complete the doubleheader sweep with a 13-8 win over Clear Creek Amana on an overcast evening in Solon.

“Our motto all year has been ‘fight’,” Solon senior catcher Skylar Stookey said. “Every time we come out of the huddle we are saying ‘fight’ and I think for the past few weeks we haven’t been taking that true to heart and this week we have really come to work and working on that fight.”

Stookey had a three-run home run in both games and drove in four runs in the nightcap as Solon improved to 18-8 on the season and 17-3 in WAMAC play.

The back-to-back wins were the first for Solon since a doubleheader sweep at Center Point-Urbana last Wednesday and came after Solon had dropped four of its previous six games.

“These second games are tough in a conference like this,” Stookey said. “You get tired, you get run down, I mean we have eight games this week, and we just have to keep fighting one at a time.”

Solon didn’t have an easy time in the opener.

Karsyn Stratton led off the game with a home run and Clear Creek Amana led 2-1 in the fourth after Allie Rummelhart scored on a Katie Pitlick RBI groundup.

Solon took its first lead of the game with a three-run fourth inning that was keyed by an RBI single by Ava Stebral.

The big blow for the Spartans in the opener was a three-run homer by Stookey in the fifth that put the Spartans up 7-2.

“Trailing early, we knew we could do it,” Stookey said. “We just had to dig deep and find a way to keep fighting.”

Clear Creek Amana again jumped on top early as Stratton led off the second game with her second home run of the doubleheader, a towering shot to left that ignited a five-run first inning for the Clippers.

Solon chipped away immediately with three runs in the bottom of the inning on am RBI single by Stookey and a two-run single up the middle by Stebral.

“We’ve been hitting the ball so hard for the last week that they knew it was only a matter of time,” Solon coach Erin White said. “We knew the runs were going to come.”

Clear Creek Amana pushed the lead back to 7-3 as Gabrielle Bedford and Ainsley Schrock opened the second inning with back-to-back opposite field home runs.

It was all Spartans the rest of the way.

Solon scored five runs in the second inning, all with two outs, and took its first lead of the game on a two-run home run by Sarah Heick.

Senior shortstop Taylor Moore had a line drive two-run double to right center field in the five-run second that gave Solon lead it would never give up.  

“I had a lot of hard hit balls get caught so when one finally dropped it felt pretty good,” Moore said. “It felt really good off the bat and I was just happy to bring in a few runs for the team.”

Stookey again provided some breathing room with a towering three-run home run in the third that cleared the scoreboard in left field.

The senior catcher was 4-for-6 with two homers, a double and seven RBI in the doubleheader.

“We hadn’t had a sweep in a long time so it feels good,” Stookey said. “That is going to help carry us into the weekend because we have a tough weekend ahead.”

Kayla West earned a complete-game victory in the opener and worked the final five innings of the nightcap allowing just one run on four hits while striking out nine.

“Kayla wanted the ball,” White said. “I think Kayla have built a relationship of trust where if she didn’t feel like she could go back in I know she would have communicated that to me but she wanted the ball. She wanted to go back in.”

Clear Creek Amana dropped to 8-13 and 4-11 with the sweep and committed eight errors in the two games.

The Clippers left the bases loaded three times in the opener while stranding 12 and left 11 runners on base in the nightcap.

“We talked about it was self inflicted wounds,” Clear Creek Amaana coach Matthew Trosky said. “Errors hurt us and then two or three innings we left the bases loaded and even one hit gets us two runs and makes it a close ball game. They are a very good ball club, they hit the ball all over the place so kudos to them but we have to focus on us and take care of us.

Game 1

Clear Creek Amana     100  100  0  –  2  7  5

Solon                           001  332  x  –  9  9  3

W – Kayla West                      L – Raina Henze

2B – SOL: Hilary Wilson, Skylar Stookey. CCA: Gabrielle Bedford, Abby Crow

HR – SOL: Skylar Stookey. CCA: Karsyn Stratton

Game 2

Clear Creek Amana    520  001  0  –   8   11  3

Solon                           353  101  x  –  13  15  3

W – Madison Sprague            L – Kaly Thomas

2B – SOL: Hilary Wilson, Taylor Moore. CCA: Lydia Banwart

3B – SOL: Sarah Heick

HR – SOL: Sarah Heick, Skylar Stookey. CCA: Karsyn Stratton, Gabrielle Bedford, Ainsley Schrock

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