Red Demons sweep Wichita Heights to win third, fourth straight
By Shelton Burch
Sports Editor
The Dodge City Red Demons girls softball team won their third and fourth games straight, sweeping Wichita Heights Thursday night.
Wind played a factor in the first game particularly, blowing throughout and affecting balls thrown and hit all over the field.
Still, the Red Demons prevailed, winning 18-8.
The Lady Demons scored two runs in the first, but seven in the second to extend their lead to 9-0.
In the top of the third, Red Demon freshman pitcher Raemie Lopp got into some trouble, walking the first three batters with no outs. The Falcons ended up scoring five runs in their part of the inning, cutting the lead to 9-5.
The Demons responded with seven runs in their half of the inning though to push their lead to 16-5.
Senior Shaylyn Turner led the way for the Red Demons in game one, finishing with a teamhigh three hits and tying senior Grace Ruehle, sophomore Elise Helfrich and freshman Raemie Lopp a team-high three runs.
Junior Madison Armstrong had a team-high four RBI’s in the first game.
The Red Demons won the second game 17-5. Both games ended in the fifth innings due to run-rule.
Despite the lopsided scores, Armstrong said the Red Demons could have done better.
“We didn’t rea
lly play to our potential that
we could have,” Armstrong said. “We underestimated them because they got run-ruled by (Wichita) South and we killed South.”
The Red Demons beat Wichita South 15-0 and 12-1 back on March 30.
Head coach Ashley Podschun also said the Red Demons could have played better, even though it was nice in that it gave the team four straight wins.
“We didn’t play like I would have liked, and it’s sad to say because we did hit the ball good, but defensively I thought we struggled,” Podschun said. “Our team-chemistry’s kind lacking a little bit, so I’m hoping to turn that around, but I’m pleased with the four wins in a row and read to look forward to Tuesday’s against Great Bend.”
Podschun said it was good to see the girls bounce back after allowing some runs in the first game.
“I preached a lot in the huddle a lot of the runs that they scored were unearned, so I basically told ‘em ‘Hey we need to get those back. We let those runs get on the board, so get those back and then some,’ and basically I wanted to see the heart that they had for the game,” Podschun said. “I saw it, but still not where we want to be right now, so we’re still improving day-by-day.”
At multiple points in the two games, Red Demons could be seen making errors due to lack of communication, such as when one would catch a fly ball but be bumped into by another player thinking she was supposed to make the catch. Other times, neither of two players near a ball would make a play on it seemingly believing the other player nearby was going to.
That communication is
something the team will have to work on first, Podschun said.
“Today was pry one of our worst days communicating,” Podschun said. “Typically we don’t have balls drop like we did tonight, so I was very disappointed in that because that’s something we work on daily and I know the wind played havoc, but we have wind every day in practice. So that’s gonna be our number one thing that we work on, and just knowing the opponent: Knowing where they hit the ball and then that way you can kind of have an idea of where they went in the past and be able to read the ball better.”
The Red Demons are next in action at home Tuesday, when they host Great Bend in a doubleheader. First game is scheduled to start at 4 p.m.
The Lady Demon Softball program will be hosting “Pink Out” night on Thursday, April 12 at Legends Complex. There will be a silent auction with all proceeds going to the local Circle of Hope organization. Please see below for a list of items that will be auctioned off – and we look forward to seeing everyone at the ballpark on Thursday afternoon!
