COLLINS — Collins-Maxwell/Baxter freshman Mikayla Houge proved last year, in her first season at the high school level, that she is at her best in the circle when adversity hits.
When runners get on base, Houge finds a way to hit another gear.
That was the case again Wednesday night. Greene County put at least one runner on base in six of the seven innings, but Houge stranded all of them and struck out 13 in her first outing of the season.
She needed to bare down and retire every hitter as the CMB offense struggled in its home opener. The Raiders did push across one run in the first inning and that held up in a 1-0 softball victory in Heart of Iowa Conference action.
“I just try to bare down and really focus on hitting my spots in those situations,” Houge said.
“I struggled with that overall tonight. It’s easier when they don’t put it in play.”
Houge was most impressive in two Megan Durbin at-bats. Durbin, who homered in the Rams’ season-opening loss to Prairie City-Monroe, started the night 2-for-2, but Houge got her to pop out on the first pitch with runners on first and second in the fifth inning.
In the seventh, Durbin came up with runners on first and second, but Houge got the Rams’ cleanup hitter swinging for her 13th strikeout. Houge (1-0) also fanned Jenna Beyers in the seventh inning.
“They only really had two hard-hit balls,” CMB coach Troy Houge said. “They got a lot of girls on base, so she had to work around some things, but they didn’t hit her that hard. She doesn’t mind the pressure. She knows she can get out of any situation no matter who is up there.
“For a first time out, we’ll take a shutout and 13 strikeouts. You can’t complain about that.”
The Raiders plated their only run in the first inning, taking advantage of two Greene County errors. Junior Katie Camp reached on a throwing error, moved to second on a single by Houge and scored on another error off a ground ball hit by senior Abbey Kahler.
That was all the Raiders’ offense could muster. CMB did strand the bases loaded in the first inning and the Raiders also left a pair of runners on base in the fifth and sixth innings.
“We didn’t swing the bats like we would have like to, but I am fine with it because it’s still early in the season,” Coach Houge said. “We got a run and we held on. We’ll keep getting better.”
Some of the offensive issues were bad luck. With two runners on base and two outs in the third, sophomore Hannah Caple drilled a shot to the hole between first and second base, but the ball struck freshman Trinity Stover’s foot for the final out.
“It was hit so hard that it got Trinity in the foot,” Coach Houge said. “That would have scored at least one run for us. That could have changed the whole complexion of the game.”
Mikayla Houge went 2-for-2 with a walk on the night. She has not yet been retired at the plate this year. In the suspended season opener against Nevada, Houge is currently 2-for-2 with a walk after four innings.
Camp had a hit and scored the lone run of the game. The five walks were recorded by Houge, seniors Abbey Kahler, Heather Jessen and Mikayla Eslinger and Caple.
Both Coach Houge and his oldest daughter aren’t worried about the early-season offensive struggles yet.
“We just need to get more reps in. It’s still early in the year,” Mikayla Houge said. We hit well in the first inning again. We have to figure out how to keep it rolling through the rest of the game, we need to adjust to what we see and we need to ask each other what we think is happening out there.
“We will crank up the pitching machine though, and I think we’ll get better as the season goes along.”
Coach Houge expected the game to be close. Six of the last nine games against the Rams have been decided by one run. It was CMB’s third straight victory over Greene County.
“It seems like every year, no matter which team is supposed to be better, the games are close. We need games like this though to see how we handle it,” Coach Houge said. “It was a tough game. We had to fight a few things out there. We did what we had to do. It’s never easy, especially with these guys.”
Greene County is now 0-2 on the season after one-run losses to PCM and CMB. Hannah Promes had two hits at the plate and took the loss in the circle for the Rams.
CMB, which has yet to allow a run in its first 11 innings of the season, plays Class 4A Oskaloosa at 7 p.m. Thursday in Collins. The Raiders (1-0 overall, 1-0 in the HOIC) play Roland-Story at 7 p.m. Friday in Roland.