By TYLER HENRY
Salina Post contributor
The Southeast of Saline softball team began their season with a bang on Thursday, decimating Smoky Valley in an opening day sweep with run-rule-shortened wins of 19-3 and 24-2.
With this pair of victories, the Lady Trojans open their campaign at 2-0 with a run differential of +38 while the Lady Vikings stumble out of the gates at 0-2.
SES wasted no time jumping all over Smoky Valley, striking for six runs in their first round of at-bats of the year.
The Lady Vikings would respond with three of their own in the bottom of the first but from there Bryna Baird would slam the door shut, closing out her outing with four innings of three-hit ball, striking out four and walking just two.
Southeast would tack on an additional three runs in the second, four in the third, and six in the fourth to secure a resounding 19-3 mercy rule victory.
When all was said and done, the Lady Trojans tallied 11 hits and took full advantage of a disastrous day in the field for Smoky Valley, who committed an egregious ten errors on the day.
Offensively each of the top six members in the lineup drove in at least one run, led by Chase Gilpin and Carly Commerford, who accounted for eight of the 14 RBI on the day.
In game two, SES picked up right where they left off, striking for six runs in the first, eight in the second, and ten in the third to carry a 24-0 advantage into the home half of the final inning.
The Lady Vikings were able to scratch two runs across in the bottom of the frame but it was far too little too late as the purple and white cruised to a 24-2 victory.
This time around, the phenomenal pitching effort belonged to Lexi Jacobson, who allowed just two runs on five hits, struck out three, and walked two.
At the plate, the Lady Trojans contributed 1-9, as 11 different players grabbed a bat, nine collected a hit, and ten either drove in a run or crossed the plate to score themselves.
Southeast will be back in action next week on Tuesday, April 4th when they open the home and league portions of their schedule with Republic County at 3:00.
For continuing coverage of Lady Trojan softball all season long, stay tuned to the Salina Post.