By RICHIE HALL
CARMEL – The goal for the Carmel softball team at its own invitational this past weekend was simple: win the first game.
The Greyhounds did just that, guaranteeing themselves no worse than a fourth-place finish after a nice victory over Avon, which is tied for 14th in this week’s Class 4A coaches poll, in their first-round game on Friday, April 24. Carmel dropped its Saturday, April 25 games against two other ranked teams, but the Hounds are still improving.
“We wanted to win our first game, and so we went with our lineup that’s been working for us,” said Carmel coach Stephanie Kleiner.
The Greyhounds achieved their goal with a 5-1 victory over the Orioles. Riley Petrites got the Houndss on the board right away with a leadoff home run in the first inning. Ellie Goddard scored on Avery Klein’s sacrifice fly to put Carmel up 2-0.
Megan Pike scored for the Hounds in the second inning; Jayden Kleiner got the RBI. Pike and Petrites added to Carmel’s lead in the fourth after both scored on an error.
Chelsea Bennett pitched five innings for the win. She struck out three and allowed only two hits. That would be Bennett’s only game: Stephanie Kleiner said Bennett told the coaches that “she was a little sore coming into this weekend,” so the coach rested her for the Saturday games. Kleiner said Bennett had “pitched more in the last six weeks than she has in years.”
“This is not about what happens here on the field, it’s about the longevity of the girls,” said Stephanie Kleiner.
The Greyhounds opened second-day play by taking on 4A No. 2 Penn. The Kingsmen led 11-1 midway through the fifth inning, putting them three outs away from a run-rule. (Jayden Kleiner batted in Carmel’s run by hitting a first-inning double to score Petrites.)
But the Greyhounds extended the game with three runs in the bottom of the fifth and fought valiantly before losing 13-6. Goddard singled Lolah Pence home, then Chloe Junkersfeld doubled Kleiner and Goddard in.
Klein hit a leadoff homer in the sixth inning, then Kleiner smacked a one-out home run in the seventh inning. Kleiner finished the game with three hits.
“Today we gave a chance to some people who needed some time and experience,” said Stephanie Kleiner. “I was totally secure with that.”
Carmel dropped its second Saturday game to 4A No. 11 Brownsburg 14-2 in six innings. The Bulldogs ran away with the contest in the sixth inning by putting up seven runs.
Klein singled in Goddard in the fourth inning; Goddard hit a double to get on base. Goddard scored again in the sixth inning on Carly Wright’s RBI groundout. Goddard was 3-for-3 at the plate.
“I think we are not built right now for a two-game-a-day program,” said Stephanie Kleiner. “Each year as I’ve been coach, we’ve gotten better and better at managing different things. If right now, we need to manage playing two games a day better, then that’s what we’re going to do.”
The Greyhounds are 9-8 for the season, having already surpassed last year’s total of six wins. They’ve also scored 140 runs this season; last year, Carmel scored 112 for the entire season. The Hounds’ next game is Thursday against Tri-West.
“I feel really secure with the way our season’s going and we will continue to adjust our expectations and the way we approach each obstacle,” said Stephanie Kleiner.
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