Fremont-Mills drops two at Griswold tourney

The Fremont-Mills offense struggled in a pair of losses at the Griswold Softball Tournament on Saturday.

The Knights (6-8 overall, 3-0 in the Corner Conference) dropped its opener 6-3 to Southwest Valley and then were shutout 10-0 by Exira in the capper.

In the two games combined, the Knights recorded five hits, just one going for extra bases.

Joni Laughlin took the loss to Southwest Valley, allowing three hits and no earned runs while striking out four.

Kynzie Fichter took the game two loss to Exira after giving up 11 hits, six earned runs and walking six.

Kayleigh Cole recorded two hits for the Knights on the day.

C.B. St. Albert 6,
Fremont-Mills 5

Council Bluffs St. Albert scored a run in the bottom of the seventh to break up a tie game and escape with a 6-5 victory over Fremont-Mills in non-conference softball Thursday.

The home Saintes smacked eight hits off of Knight starter Joni Laughlin, including the game-winner by Samantha Clark in the bottom of the seventh. Clark earned the win in the circle and also smashed a home run for the Saintes.

Laughlin and Clara Schaaf led the Knights at the plate with two hits apiece.

Fremont-Mills 13,
East Mills 0, 3 innings

Fremont-Mills jumped on East Mills early with two runs in the top of the first inning and put the game away with a seven run third as the Knights cruised to a 13-0 Corner Conference softball victory in three innings last Tuesday in Malvern.

The Knights (6-5 overall, 3-1 in the conference) smacked eight hits, but just one came for extra-bases, while drawing eight walks.

“It wasn’t pretty at times but that’s the way it’s been all season,” said Fremont-Mills coach Kyle Fichter after the game. “We don’t have a lot of experience. We’ve been struggling at the plate all season. We’ve seen some good pitchers and sometimes our pitching isn’t there and we struggle in the field and that takes away from our hitting. We have the athletes to get the job done. We just have to play consistently and with the rain and one game a week, you can’t get in a rhythm.”

Fremont-Mills opened the game with three consecutive hits off starter Zena Courtier. The Knights took a 4-0 lead in the second when Kynzie Fichter smacked a double to score two and chase Courtier. Wolverine eighth-grader Kassidy Croghan came on in relief mid-way through the second.

In third, the Knights drew five consecutive walks, smacked two hits and took advantage of three Wolverine errors to get seven runs across.

Knights’ starter Joni Laughlin pitched a perfect bottom of the third to close out the win. The junior right-hander allowed just one hit and fanned three in the victory.

Kynzie Fichter was 3-for-3 at the plate with three runs driven in. Kayleigh Cole added two hits and two RBIs.

“We didn’t hit anything hard but we had a little luck and it helped us get base-runners,” Coach Fichter said. “We’ll take it.”

The loss drops East Mils to 1-6 overall and 1-