The third-ranked Seton Keough softball team kept its perfect record intact, earning a 4-0 victory over No. 7 Franklin on Monday afternoon.
The Gators (4-0) were paced by pitcher Hannah Tavik, who tossed seven shutout innings, allowing just two hits while striking out 11 batters.
“Hannah did a really outstanding job,” said Seton Keough coach Jackie Boswell. “This was the first game that she has been able to pitch in. The defense was great behind her when she started to get tired and she hung in there.”
“When I started warm-ups, I was a little bit nervous but as soon as the game started, I was more confident,” Tavik admitted. “I usually throw a lot of curveballs but today I threw a lot of rise [pitches]. I changed myself to do what was best for my team.”
Indians pitcher Mary Sobota also had a strong performance in the circle. The senior scattered six hits through six innings, allowed just one earned run and struck out six.
In the bottom of the second inning, Sobota struck out the side. In the top of the third, Tavik equaled her counterpart with three consecutive strikeouts of her own.
There would only be one extra-base hit between the two teams.
“[Sobota] really hit her spots and kept us guessing,” Boswell said. “She’s a really good pitcher.”
The difference in the game was Seton Keough’s ability to take advantage of Franklin’s errors.
In the bottom of the first inning, Taylor Kairos sent a towering fly ball into the outfield. Battling the wind, the ball dropped out of the left fielders’ reach as Kairos raced to second base. Two batters later, junior Robi Zimmerman (3-for-3) crushed a home run over the left field wall to give the Gators an early 2-0 lead.
In the third, mistakes again hurt the visiting Indians (6-1). Kairos again reached base on an error after a fly ball hit off of an outfielders’ glove. Next, Mikki Kouneski hit a single into left field and the ball squirted under the glove of the fielder, rolling back to the fence.
Both Kairos and Kouneski rounded the bases giving Seton Keough a 4-0 lead.
“I think we played well, we just couldn’t generate the offense that we needed,” said Franklin coach Ed Lahay. “We had three errors/M. Sobota_large.jpg "Franklin's Mary Sobota struck out six batters over six innings.")
that lead to three unearned runs in the game.”
But Lahay isn’t worried about his team moving foward.
“We consider ourselves to be one of the better teams in [Baltimore County] and testing ourselves against a private school always reassures us that we can play at that level.”
The Indians may have suffered their first loss of the season but proved to be formidable opponents for the Gators.
“I’m actually pleased,” Sobota said about the outcome of the game. “This team is really competitive and when we played them in previous years, it did not turn out the way we would have liked it to. This year was a little bit different.”
On Tuesday Seton Keough will host No. 2 Archbishop Spalding to finish a game that was tied at 4-4 a few weeks ago before being suspended due to bad weather.
Franklin returns to league action tomorrow when they face Catonsville.
No. 3 Seton Keough 4, No. 7 Franklin 0
F 000 000 0 — 0 2 3
SK 202 000 X — 4 6 0
M. Sobota and Miller; Tavik and Kouneski.
HR: SK-Zimmerman.
RBI: Zimmerman (2).
