NORMAL – When the Softball teams from Normal Community West High School and Normal Community High School met earlier this month, it took eight innings to determine a winner, with NCHS pulling away with a 1-0 victory. When the rematch between the squads was held at Maxwell Park on May 22, Normal West jumped out front early and held the lead en route to evening the season series at a game apiece, beating NCHS, 3-0.
West (25-7, 11-1 Big 12) got on the scoreboard first as right fielder Amy Nelson singled in the home half of the third inning, then motored around the bases on defensive plays to score West’s first run, putting the Wildcats up, 1-0.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Wildcats went up 3-0 on a home run by center fielder Claire Ambrose, with Nelson on base, leading to the final score. Nelson led off the inning with a single. Reganne Camp (12-5) got the victory for West, while the loss for NCHS (25-7) went to Keegan Fields (7-3).
“Claire’s home run was great for her and her confidence,†explained her coach, Normal West’s April Schermann. “She’s been struggling a lot, lately.†But Schermann, added, a piece of hitting advice from assistant coach Byran Cumbess seemed to turn things around for her. Cumbess advised Ambrose to shorten her swing against hard-throwing Fields. That bid of a change in her approach at the plate aided Ambrose to get the hit she needed, Schermann explained.
“Anytime we face NCHS, it’s going to be a tough game,†Schermann said.
“We just couldn’t get hits when we had people on base,†explained NCHS head coach Bob Grimes. “Camp kept us a little off-balance. I was pleased with what Fields did for us all day. I thought, for the most part, she did a really nice job. West has a good offense.â€
With the season series between these two knotted at a game each, the only way they would face each other during State playoffs would be if they were to meet in the Regional championship.
This entry was posted on Monday, May 26th, 2014 at 10:32 pm and is filed under NCHS, Normal West HS, The Normalite. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.