Valley Sports ReportATHENS — Sophomore Gretchan Hiley opened the season with a dominant performance to lead Athens to a 2-0 win over Towanda here on a windy Saturday afternoon in NTL softball action.
Hiley tossed a two-hitter with 18 strike outs, and two walks, throwing 103 pitches in her complete-game, seven-inning performance.
"It was a great first game of the season," said Athens coach Brian Wendela. "It took a timely team effort on top of a great game pitched by Gretchan Hiley.
"Gretchan made a statement today," added Wendela. "That was nice to see — coach Persun, our catcher Memphis Paul, and Gretchan all did a tremendous job in game 1."
Wendela was pleased with his team dealt with adversity late in the game.
"Our experience led the way in the latter part of game when Towanda got runners on," said Wendela. "We actually went to a bunt coverage that we haven’t worked on yet this preseason.
"We worked on it last year and it paid off," he added. "I’m pretty proud of them playing great defense in the moment."
Towanda's Aleah Johnson tossed 5 1/3 innings of two-hit ball, with eight strikeouts and two walks, but the Wildcats pushed a pair of runs across the plate in the home half of the sixth inning.
With the game scoreless heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, senior Gretchen Schmieg work a four-pitch walk, and scored on the next pitch when Gretchan Hiley rapped an RBI double to center field.
Two pitches later, junior Maddie Hiley ripped a line-drive RBI double into center field to make it 2-0.
Gretchan Hiley then struck out the side in the top of the seventh inning to preserve the win. It was third time she struck out the side. She also struck out five batters in a row twice in the contest.
"Offensively, it was a mix of Towanda pitching well and some first-game jitters, but I loved our chances at the end of the game knowing if (Gretchen) Schmieg could be a bottom of lineup lead-off hitter and spin the top of lineup around we were going to make something happen," said Wendela.
"Schmieg actually got four different signs and executed with a walk, then we got big back-to-back doubles by the Hiley girls — it was great to see," noted Wendela.
"One game at a time, but I'm proud of our energy and focus in the first game," he added.
Gretchan Hiley doubled, scored one run, and drove in one run, Maddie Hiley doubled and knocked in one run, and Schmieg scored one run to account for Athens' offense.
Athens, now 1-0, hosts Troy Monday.
—————————
IN PHOTO 1: Athens sophomore Gretchan Hiley. IN TOP PHOTO: Athens senior Ella Coyle. ... PHOTOS BY BECKY FASSETT.
