The College Heights Christian Cougars opened their 2023 season with a 8-3 win on Wednesday against the Springfield Catholic Irish at the Gene Bassman Softball Complex within the Joplin Athletic Complex.
College Heights junior pitcher Maddy Colin struck out 17 Springfield Catholic batters and finished with two hits allowed as well as two walks.
College Heights scored at least one run during six times at bat with three in the third, two in the fifth, and one in the first, second, and sixth innings.
“This is the first time we’ve been able to get out on the field and play against another team,” College Heights coach Mike Howard said. “We’re just overjoyed to be out here playing softball again. Any time you have a first game of the year, there’s going to be jitters, and we have a lot of new girls too, so a lot of them were nervous at the beginning but I think they came into their own there as the game progressed and they got more comfortable. We did a good job for the most part offensively, baserunning was good, so I was proud of them.”
Springfield Catholic plated single runs in the third, fifth, and seventh.
“Springfield Catholic’s got a nice team, and they did a great job over there,” Howard said. “They have a couple good pitchers and some good hitters. They battled up there and made Maddy work for it tonight. Tip your cap to them, they’re going to have a fine season. I feel like we came out and did the things we needed to do to go ahead there.”
Colin entered her junior season with a 34-9 career record, an 1.33 ERA, and 478 strikeouts and 30 walks.
She boosted her career numbers to 35 wins, 495 strikeouts, and 32 walks after only the first game of her junior season.
“She did a great job tonight,” Howard said. “She stayed on top with her pitching. I’m proud of her for coming out first game of the year and pitching as good as she did.”
Kloee Williamson, who doubled and scored a run, Aaliyah Perez and Allie Stout each had two hits in the win for the Cougars. Stout picked up an RBI, while Perez scored once and drove in one. Kallie Spencer had a hit, an RBI and a run scored, while Colin also recorded a hit and an RBI.
College Heights, who partners with McAuley Catholic in softball and won a district title in 2021, enters the season unranked in Class 2 and the Cougars’ loaded district includes the two top-ranked teams in the state, No. 1 and defending state champion Diamond and No. 2 Mount Vernon.
The Cougars are 37-9 overall during their past two seasons and saw a 15-win improvement from 3-12 in 2019 to 18-4 in 2021.
College Heights returns to action Friday on the road against Riverton (Kansas), an opponent the Cougars are 3-4 overall against dating back to the 2015 season.
College Heights played a JV game Wednesday, something new for the Cougars this season.
“Last couple years, we’ve only had just enough for varsity,” Howard said. “(Assistant coach) John (Blankenship) has done a good job recruiting girls from College Heights to just come and give softball a try. Come out and have fun, and who knows you may enjoy it. We’ve got a lot of girls out this year. A lot of them are new for the first time, but it’s nice to be able to get out here and play some JV games and get them acclimated to the speed of the game. We want to be able to teach them through JV games and how they’re able to progress.”
