Smith and Fuglsang belt home runs in win.
By Mike Miazga
Correspondent
The York softball team was a recent 8-6 winner over Metea Valley in non-conference play.
The win pushed York to 5-0 on the season.
The Dukes had 15 hits in the game and came back from a 5-2 deficit at one point.
Katherine Karnatz went 3-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI. Izzy Smith was 4-for-4 with a run scored and three RBI. Andrea Meager had a hit and an RBI. Sydney Fuglsang had a hit, two runs scored and an RBI. Madison Collins went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and Julia Derkowski went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Mia Tran and Jane Moran each had a hit. Kyra Kroll scored a run. Eight York players had at least one hit.
Smith, Collins, Meager and Karnatz each had a double. Smith and Fuglsang homered in the game.
Lauren Wojcik was the winning pitcher. She struck out four over seven innings.
Through the first five games, Smith was hitting .750 with 14 hits in 19 at-bats. She had four doubles, two homers and 12 RBI. Kroll was hitting .700 with 10 hits in 16 at-bats. She had two triples and six RBI. Karnatz was hitting .600 with 11 hits in 19 at-bats. She had three doubles, three triples and five RBI.
“Offensively we are hitting the ball well and making adjustments preparing for the various speeds and spin on the ball,” said York coach Elizabeth Munn. “The girls are continuing to work on moving runners into scoring position.”
Smith and Karnatz played on the varsity as freshmen last year. “Izzy and Katherine had big shoes to fill and are doing an incredible job with it,” said Munn.
Munn noted the team is making strides on the defensive end as well. “Defensively we are doing OK,” she said. “We are making adjustments and learning from errors and continuing to go over critical aspects in the game.”
The Dukes continue to get help in the pitching circle from a variety of sources. “Our pitching staff has grown with all the pitchers having a year of varsity play under their belt and returning for their second year,” said Munn. “Our pitchers are making the necessary adjustments and continuing to work on their pitches.”
Munn said the team is learning from its play in those first five games of the season. “We’re off to a great start being 5-0,” she said. “However, we had a lot to learn and grow from in each game. Errors were made in each game and we left runners on in multiple situations. Everything is a learning experience and with a young team with no seniors we have to make the necessary adjustments to move forward and progress.”
