Griswold loses two in tournament

Griswold’s softball team dropped a pair of games over the weekend in the Ballard Tournament.

In the first game Friday night, Griswold played the host team out of Huxley, losing 6-2.

Griswold took an early lead in the bottom of the second when Katie Carlton singled and advanced to third base on a pair of wild pitches. She then scored on Ali Sindt’s RBI-groundout.

Ballard answered with a pair of runs in the third inning, with three hits and an error. Ballard added single tallies in the fourth and fifth innings, before tacking on two more in the sixth.

Jenny Mortensen reached with a basehit in the bottom of the sixth, and scored on a Carlton sacrifice fly to complete the scoring.

“We just played okay ball and that wasn’t good enough,” said coach Peggy Hansen.

Sindt pitched the complete game, giving up six runs on seven hits, walking three and striking out one.

In Saturday’s game, Griswold lost to Woodbury Central 7-1.

Woodbury Central had suffered their first loss of the season the night before while sporting the number one ranking in Class 1A softball.

While the start of the game was delayed until the early afternoon, Griswold wasted no time in taking an early lead.

Britney Hansen doubled and scored on a throwing error by the Woodbury catcher in the bottom of the first.

With lefty Cassie Forsyth on the mound showing an array of speeds on her pitchers, Woodbury’s offense had some early struggles. However, they led 3-1 after six innings.

But in the seventh inning, Woodbury broke through with four runs, capped by a three-run homer to centerfield off Ali Sindt, who came in to relieve Forsyth in the middle of the inning.

Despite the losses, Hansen had plenty of positive comments after the games.

“I think we learned a lot from playing these two games this weekend,” she said. “This is an excellent tournament and the field of teams wasn’t any easier this year than it usually is. There were four rated teams in the state and teams from every class from Boone in 4A to Woodbury Central in 1A ... this should also show we can play with anyone.”

Griswold’s record is now 4-6 on the season and 2-2 in the conference.