FRUITPORT - The Reeths-Puffer softball team is yet to lose a game this season, and with the way the Rockets have been hitting, it’s easy to see why.
The Rockets visited Fruitport on Thursday and pounded their way to convincing 16-5 and 17-0 victories over the Trojans in a non-conference doubleheader.
The Game 1 victory came after the Trojans jumped out to a four-run lead but were unable to stop the Rockets from rolling once their bats woke up.
The two biggest hits of the night came in Game 2, when R-P's Abbie Critchett blasted a two-run home run and Kaylee Jones added a three-run inside-the-park homer.
R-P's Kaylee Jones, who had a three-run homer.
“This is a team that can go places,” said Reeths-Puffer Coach Sarah Ferenz, whose team improved to 5-0. “I think that we have a really great group of girls who are going to pick each other up, which is a big deal.
“Our girls did a great job of making of adjustments at the plate tonight. They were able to take what the coaches were saying and make the adjustment to put the ball in holes and push runs across. It didn’t take multiple innings to get there, they adjusted right away.”
The first game started out rough for the Rockets after Fruitport grabbed a 5-1 first-inning lead with a two-run single from Brooklynn Russell, an RBI sacrifice fly by Olive Staal and several runs scoring on R-P errors.
Then the Reeths-Puffer bats clicked in and completely changed the game.
R-P first baseman Kyleigh Bilek gets ready for a pitch with a runner behind her.
Kyleigh Bilek had a two-run single in the fourth inning, when the Rockets scored three runs to cut the deficit to 5-4.
A slew of Trojan errors in the fifth inning helped Reeths-Puffer score six runs and take a 10-5 lead.
A two-run hit by Kyleigh Bilek and a run-scoring hit by Jersi Bilek, combined with a few more errors, helped the Rockets add six runs in the sixth inning.
Kyleigh Bilek finished with three hits. Mady Snyder pitched the win, scattering four hits with two strikeouts and one walk.
R-P's Abbie Critchett, who hit a two-run homer.
There was never any doubt in Game 2, when the Rockets opened the scoring with a seven-run second inning.
Critchett blasted a two-run home run, Kyleigh Bilek, Mady Snyder and Lainey McDaniel had RBI doubles and Jones and Jersi Bilek each added RBI singles.
R-P tacked on 10 more runs in a huge fifth inning. Megan Barmes had three RBIs on two singles, Kyleigh Bilek had an RBI single, Snyder added an RBI double and Natalie Kunnen knocked in a run with a single.
The biggest blast came from Jones with her three-run inside-the-park homer.
R-P's Lainey McDaniel gets a lead off second base.
“It felt amazing once it left my bat,” Jones said. “It felt really good. When I was rounding first, I saw the ball was back at the fence and just kept running as fast as I could.”
Synder finished with three doubles for the Rockets. McDaniel, a freshman, pitched five innings while allowing one hit and striking out four batters to collect the win in her first varsity start.
“It feels really good,” Coach Ferenz said about her team’s effort. “I knew I had a good team, but they’ve gone above and beyond. We came out and started a little flat, but we made quick adjustments and rolled it the rest of the night, which was awesome.”
