Titans, Wildcats face off

It wasn’t a great night out on the athletics fields for the Hobbton girls’ soccer and softball teams. Wrapping up their week on Friday against the Heide Trask Titans, the Lady Wildcats endured two losses as they prepare to hit the road for an extended period of road games.

Soccer

A thrilling and highly contested soccer match unfolded out in Newton Grove on Friday night. The weather was certainly much more tolerable as the big gusts from the previous night had settled down and made the cold a bit less oppressive.

On the field, the battle was a tight one as both teams were in search of an advantage early in the contest. From the outside looking in, it was the Lady Titans that seemed to have more opportunities in the early going, but overall possession was held around midfield with an occasional run out from both squads.

Though these tended to be more numerous for Trask, it was Hobbton that secured the first goal of the game. At the midway point of the first half, the Lady Wildcats got deeper into the Lady Titans’ zone when Denisse Jorge-Garcia fired a shot from the right side. The shot didn’t look overly impressive, but somehow it found its way past the Trask goalkeeper and into the net. With 20:31 on the clock, Hobbton led 1-0.

The overall style of the first half was the same throughout, but the score didn’t change again and the Lady Wildcats led 1-0 at the break.

When play resumed in the second half, it didn’t take long at all for the Lady Titans to respond. Just 20 seconds went off the clock when Trask found the equalizer, tying the game up at 1-1 at the 39:40 mark.

Trask maintained their more aggressive style of play and nearly claimed the lead at the 35:00 mark. Hobbton, though, came up with a big save, knocking the shot on goal from the left side away.

Their defense couldn’t fully hold up, though, as the Lady Titans finally got another ball through around the 30:00 mark, making it 2-1.

From there, the game was a defensive slugfest. The Lady Wildcats fought to the bitter end, getting a few corner kick chances, but they just couldn’t get one through. At one point, they were mere inches from getting a head on the ball that could’ve been the equalizer, but it just missed.

With that, the clock hit 0:00 to preserve Trask’s 2-1 victory.

With the loss, Hobbton is now 0-3-1 on the season. Trips to Spring Creek and Princeton await the Lady Wildcats on Wednesday and Friday.

Softball

Total disaster is how the softball could be described, as Hobbton suffered through a brutal 26-6 mismatch on Friday night, giving the Wildcats a fourth straight loss.

Trouble quickly started brewing in the top of the first as Trask had cleared loaded bases for a 3-0 lead before Hobbton recorded their first out of the game. The Lady Titans quickly built their lead to 8-0 in the first inning, already establishing that the game was likely headed for a run-rule final.

The Lady Wildcats did get a couple runs back in the bottom of the first, but it wasn’t nearly the response they needed to boost morale and give themselves a chance.

In the second inning, Hobbton kept Trask’s damage to a minimum, allowing just one run, but things spiraled from bad to worse in the top of the third as the Lady Titans’ lead jumped up to 16-2.

Then in the fourth, yet another big time scoring parade made its way to the visitors’ side as Trask cashed in on 10 more runs, jolting their lead to 26-2.

The Lady Wildcats finally added four runs in the bottom of the fourth, but the game had long been decided as the final margin came to rest at 26-6.

With the loss, Hobbton is now 1-4 overall. The Wildcats now face a long road stretch, traveling first to Wallace-Rose Hill on Monday, Spring Creek on Wednesday, and Princeton on Thursday.

Baseball

The Hobbton Wildcats flirted with disaster on Friday night, nearly losing their unbeaten record in a tight battle with the Heide Trask Titans. The lead changed hands a couple of times but in the final innings, the Wildcats did just enough to close out the game with a narrow 7-6 victory.

Hobbton got the scoring started in the bottom of the first inning, scoring two runs to jump out ahead. Zack Aman drew a walk to start the Wildcats’ first at-bat and stole second and third base. He was scored following a hit into the outfield by Ayden Lawson. Lawson reached second base in the transaction and he was scored on a single by Kasey Lee.

The Titans earned a run back in the top of the third, stringing together a run following a hit, a walk, and a sacrificial ground out to pull back to within 2-1.

The score took a break at 2-1 before Trask struck again in the top of the fourth, tying the game up at 2-2.

The Wildcats, though, finally got things going again in the bottom of the fourth inning and reclaimed the lead. Kade Corbett got things started after he was hit by a pitch and was moved over to second on a single by Braxton McLamb. A line drive into center by Will Blackman advanced all the runners, scoring Corbett to put Hobbton back in the lead at 3-2.

Their advantage was extremely short-lived, though, as the Titans turned in an extremely productive inning in the top of the fifth. Trask got a couple of 1-out singles to put runners at first and second before the Wildcats recorded their second out of the inning. Back-to-back walks, though, walked in a run for the Titans, tying the game up again at 3-3. Then, a single by Jaden Reece-Murray on a line drive into left field brought in two more runs, putting Trask up at 5-3. Chance Kibby followed up with another hit, scoring Jacksin Sadler to make it 6-3

Hobbton didn’t panic, though, and instead settled in and took advantage of any breaks they were given. Lawson drew a walk and was followed by Nathan Neal, who also drew a walk two batters later. Ben Neal followed up with a single that also produced an error, allowing both Nathan Neal and Lawson to score, quickly dicing into the lead to make it 6-5. Ben Neal later scored on a wild pitch and tied the game back up at 6-6.

This time, there would be no magic run for the Titans as they were contained to just one hit in the sixth inning, quickly putting the bats back into the hands of the Wildcats. There, Hobbton went back to work to grind out the go-ahead run. Aman led the offense off with a 1-out walk and moved over to second on a Lawson single. Aman was eventually tagged out at home after he tried to come in on a wild pitch, but Lee hit a ground ball that yielded an error, scoring Lawson to put the Wildcats back ahead at 7-6.

Then, a three up, three down top of the seventh preserved the win for Hobbton, who is now 5-0 on the season.

There was no clear front-runner at the plate for the Wildcats as Lawson, Lee, Ben Neal, Corbett, McLamb, and Blackman all had one hit apiece. Neal had two RBIs while Lee and Blackman had one each.

A long road trip greets the Wildcats as they will hit the road for all of this week’s matchups. First is a trip to Wallace-Rose Hill on Monday, followed by a trip to Spring Creek on Wednesday and Princeton on Thursday.