Lake Fenton Softball Stays Undefeated

Speed. Aggressiveness. Solid defense.

The Lake Fenton softball team has a lot of each and that's why the Blue Devils are 6-0 on the season. The squad continued its hot streak and defeated Byron 11-1 and 8-1 Thursday.

Lake Fenton came out firing in the opening game, grabbing the early lead and continuing the route. Pitcher Paula Valack threw all six innings for the Blue Devils and allowed just one run.

“I was really happy with the defense. Outfield was really solid. We had a few mess ups in the infield but we recovered," Valack said.

Shelby Beckman had a big game at the plate with three RBI, including a frozen rope to shallow left field in the sixth inning that scored Ashley Rinks and Alexis Melton. Allie Newman also provided a two-RBI single in the first inning.

The Blue Devils' speed allowed them to take advantage of every error that Byron made, and there were plenty. 

"I like our speed, we're pretty fast. We have good runners who are aggressive base runners," Lake Fenton coach Amos Rinks said."That puts a lot of pressure on other teams. We have the ability to stretch a single into a double."

The Blue Devils continued the dominating performance in the second game with the 8-1 victory.

Allie Newman, who hasn’t pitched in a game since she was a freshman, threw the second because one the the teams' regular hurlers was of town.

She didn't show any rust.

Newman threw seven innings and allowed just one hit, a line drive to right field by Angie Nellis that was fumbled by the fielder, but grabbed in time to throw Nellis out at second.

“I was really nervous, I didn't know what to expect. All I've been doing is throwing in practice," Newman said.

The Blue Devils jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and never looked back. Like the previous contest, the first two batters for Lake Fenton were able to work the count and draw walks and both runners scored. Keller scored on a wild pitch.

Lake Fenton loaded the bases in the second after two infield ground balls were legged into hits and another batter was walked. Alex Wilkinson came to the plate with no outs and produced a line drive to center that drove in Beckman.

Wilkinson finished the second game with two runs scored, two more batted in and went 1-for-2 at the plate with a walk and a sacrifice fly.

“I was trying to stay focused and hit it in the gap to get the runners in," Wilkinson said of her performance.

Eight of the nine players in the Lake Fenton lineup either scored a run or drove one in.

"I was hoping we could come out and hit the ball. We were struggling at getting outside for practice and we've been using the gym a lot," Rinks added. "I was wondering how we would do hitting. We've been hitting really good at the start of the season. I knew Byron would be a challenge for us."