Softball puts the squeeze on Panthers

MAY 6, BLAZER STADIUM-

With flowers at the beginning of today's game against Paint Branch High School and the sweet taste of victory at the end, Blair's senior softball players played a great game to cap their home careers. The Blazers won, 4-0, improving their record to 9-4 a day after they drew the third seed and a first-round bye in the county tournament.

"I couldn't have asked for more in my senior season," said catcher and co-captain Lily Hamburger after the game, her voice filled with emotion. "We really came together as a team. We had some ups and downs, but the downs just made us enjoy the ups more. It was great."

Hamburger played solidly today, as did the rest of the Blazers. The team committed no errors and senior co-captain Sophie Strike had an amazing 12 putouts at first base. Senior co-captain Emma Simson continued her climb out of a slump, throwing about 60 percent of her pitches for strikes. Senior co-captain Carly Vieira continued to lead the team offensively in her new leadoff position, scoring a run and also recording an RBI.

The rest of Blair's seniors played excellent ball today, as well. Second baseman Amy Nguyen had several putouts on bunts and left fielder Elizabeth Inkellis caught a fly ball for an out. Senior third baseman Jen Sindall also played well on bunts and had an RBI. Most significantly, the team had no communication errors, a failing that has plagued the Blazers for the second half of the season.

Offensively, the Blazers took a while to warm up. Vieira scored a run in the bottom of the first, but the team left many runners on base over the next few innings, scoring no runs. Finally in the sixth the team began to string hits together and was able to rack up three more runs for the final score of 4-0. The Panthers failed to close the gap in the top of the seventh and the game ended then and there.

After the game the seniors put away their equipment for the last time at Blair and helped celebrate junior center fielder Becca Feiden's birthday with a birthday cake that put a nice cap on a truly sweet day for Blair softball.