Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – In order to string together a winning streak teams need to find different ways to win games.

Solon used its bats to start a winning streak on Monday and on Tuesday the Spartans kept it going with pitching and defense.

Sophomore Emmerson Miller spun a five-hit shutout and Solon played nearly flawless defense behind her in a 2-0 win over Class 2A No. 12 Regina in a non-conference contest in Solon.

The win was the third in a row for Solon (9-4) which scored 18 runs in a doubleheader sweep of Marion on Monday night.

“We are hitting the ball well and tonight it wasn’t great but we reminded the girls we scored 12 runs last night in our last game at Marion,” Solon coach Brad Holub said. “This game we got really solid defense and pitching. It was just a great night.”

Miller struck out four and walked just one as Solon posted its first shutout of the season.

Senior Izzy Frees and sophomore Addison Walter each had RBI doubles as the Spartans won for the third consecutive time after being outscored 22-2 in consecutive loss to 5A teams Pleasant Valley and Linn-Mar last Friday.

“I think we grew a lot mentally in the last week,” Frees said. “We really came back from a couple losses and we knew we had to get our bats going and that’s really what changed the whole thing is getting our bats going.”

Solon snapped a scoreless tie in the third when Frees plated sophomore Keegan Kleppe with a double off the left field fence.

Walter added to the lead in the next inning when she hammered a two-out double in the right center field fence after freshman Beckitt Kabela singled with one out.

“Addie Walter hit a bomb last night and had a big two-out double tonight when we were up 1-0,” Holub said. “That’s a really big hit.”

That was all the run support Miller would require.

The sophomore right-hander kept Regina off balance all evening.

After allowing a pair of singles in both the first and third innings Miller allowed just one hit, a one-out double to Harper Erwin in the sixth, over the final four innings.

Miller retired 13 of the final 16 hitters she faced.

“Her command has really improved and she’s gotten some confidence,” Holub said. “Last year she would throw and now this year she is pitching a little bit.”

Miller had help from her defense as the Spartans erased two Regals on the bases and played sparkling defense across the diamond.

“Last year we had a lot of hitting, we were a very offensive team and this year we’ve really taken strides defensively,” Frees said. “We were really young last year and this year I think we’ve grown a lot defensively.”

Frees finished 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI and Kabela had two hits for the Spartans.

“We have a sneaky good squad,” Holub said. “They are great to be around and they take coaching.”

The loss was the fifth in a row for Regina (1-8) which has three setbacks to top-10 ranked teams during that span.

Lilly Nibaur had two hits for Regina and Erwin doubled.

Reese Litton took the loss for Regna allowing four hits while striking out two and walking none in six innings.

“We are just going to keep plugging away,” Regina coach Angela Kessler said. “We are staying positive, we are focusing on the right things, we are focusing on the things we can control and not the things we can’t and we are having fun.”

Regina            000  000  0  –  0  5  0

Solon              001  100  x  –  2  6  1

W – Emerson Miller               L – Reese Litton

2B – SOL: Izzy Frees, Addison Walter. ICR: Harper Erwin

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