Hailey Pueblo connects for a home run in Otsego’s first game against Vicksburg. (Photo by Gary Shook)
By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
OTSEGO—There was no shortage of excitement for the home fans at the Otsego Softball Invitational on Saturday, April 15.
The Bulldogs secure a pair of one-run wins—beating Northview 9-8 before downing South Haven 8-7—to go 2-0 and take first place.
Against Northview, Hailey Pueblo drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the seventh inning and later scored on an error for the walk-off win.
In the South Haven game, Grace Blanchard connected for a leadoff double in the bottom of the sixth. Two hitters later, Cassie Holland singled to plate Blanchard with the go-ahead run to snap a 7-7 deadlock.
Blanchard finished with three doubles against South Haven, while Maddie Elkins had a double and two singles against Northview.
“Overall, I was very pleased with my players,” Otsego coach Jake Knash said. “We made some mistakes defensively, but always picked ourselves up and kept working to keep it close.
“We did a great job hitting the ball and my pitchers were solid. I was happy with the way they were locating the ball.”
The previous day, Otsego hosted Vicksburg and suffered losses of 8-2 and 15-4.
A fourth-inning homer by Pueblo accounted for Otsego’s runs in the opener. Elkins, Blanchard and Gracie Hiestand each had a hit in the game-two loss.