Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

It was a cool, breezy afternoon at Western Boone for the Stars softball home opener on Monday. But that did little to slow down the Stars offense against sectional rival Seeger. Western Boone scored multiple runs in all four of their plate appearances and cruised to a 12-1 victory over the Patriots. “It was pretty cold tonight, but our girls stayed focused and played well,” Western Boone head coach Mike Vanderpool said. “We hit the ball well and we really got our timing down and hitting the ball throughout the game.” Western Boone took little time to grab control of the game. Loading the bases with one out in the first, Kenzlei Mathews drove in the first two runs and after reloading the bases, Kirstin McCormick drove in two more to make it a 4-0 after an inning. “I think it’s big to jump out to a lead like that in the first inning,” Vanderpool said. “I think it lets the girls relax a little at the plate and then they can make some things happen. We are still just focused on improving every game. We weren’t perfect tonight, we missed a couple of signs, but we are getting better every day.” Leading 4-1, Raina Lutz hit her first career home run to lead-off the second inning. freestar The freshman finished 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBIs. “She’s a great addition to our team,” Vanderpool said. “She can play multiple positions for us. She can pitch, she can play shortstop and today we had her at third and first. She’s a well rounded player and I really like her swing. She produces a lot of power.” Mathews made it 6-1 later in the second inning with an RBI-double, then scored on a wild pitch. An RBI-single by Mickey Burns played a run in the third. She scored on a fielders’ choice off the bat of Payten Blankenship. An RBI-single from Lutz and a 2-run double from Mickayla Naanos in the fourth capped the scoring for the Stars. Burns, Naanos, Mathews and Ally Lewis all had two hits for the Stars, with Mathews driving in three. Naanos also walked twice, and drove in two while scoring twice. McCormick was 1-for-3 with the two RBIs. Nine different Stars’ batters reached base for WeBo. “I think we have girls that can hit 1-9 in our order,” Vanderpool said. “I have said this pre-season that I think this line-up is better 1-9 than we had last year. Hopefully that continues as we move forward this year.” Burns allowed an unearned run on two hits in the game. She struck out six. The Stars are scheduled to have a busy rest of the week, hosting 4A foes Brownsburg and Lafayette Jefferson on Tuesday and Wednesday and then traveling to Faith Christian on Thursday. While the weather doesn’t look promising for the end of the week, Vanderpool said he hopes the Stars are able to get a lot of games in to work out some things heading into conference play. “It was important to get tonight in and get a win,” Vanderpool said. “If we can at least two more games in this week, I’ll be pretty happy. Brownsburg is going to be a good challenge for us tomorrow, so hopefully we get that in and go from there.” Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.