BY WENDI REARDON PRICE
Clarkston News Sports Writer
Clarkston Varsity Softball finished the first week of games with a win, some losses and finding out what they can do together on the field.
“We have a lot to work on,” said Katie Smith, head coach. “Every year brings a new dynamic because we haven’t played with each other. We had one practice outside before this game with the weather. We do what we can. It’s going to get better throughout the season. Credit to them they had a lot of great plays, a lot of good catches, a lot of great things which just came from practicing in the gym for a little bit. Together that’s a tough thing to ask when they haven’t done it enough to be completely solid. What they have shown me is they are going to get there.”
Clarkston lost their double header against Lakeland on Thursday, 21-17. The second game was called due to darkness with Lakeland leading, 5-2.

The Wolves opened the first game against Lakeland with six runs at the top of the first inning.
The Eagles cut Clarkston’s lead down to three after scoring three runs on a homerun in the bottom of the first.
Abi Taylor had one run off her hit in the top of the second to bring the score, 7-3. Lakeland struck back at their next turn to bat with seven runs to put the score 10-7.
Ella Cady had one run off her hit in the top of the third to bring the Wolves up as Lakeland led, 10-8.
The Eagles climbed up with five runs before closing the third inning.
Keira Tolmie stepped up to the plate and hit the ball over the fence to bring in two runs at the top of the fourth inning.
Nakenna Knowlton struck at the top of the fifth inning with the Wolves. With the bases loaded and two outs, she hit the ball to the fence and brought in three runs on her triple.
“We have tried to practice the mindset of being in every game,” said Smith. “Sometimes the score gets up and you can’t look at it as a huge deficit. You have to look at it as we are capable of it. We have to take every pitch as an opportunity to either stay ahead or get in a comfortable spot to put the pressure on them.”
The Eagles scored four runs on the bottom of the fifth, putting their lead up 21-13.
Cady hit a double at the top of the sixth inning to bring one run in.
Lakeland was scoreless in the sixth inning. The Wolves closed the inning quick with Knowlton making the throw to Cady at first to tag the first batter out. Claire Deporter caught the second batter’s hit in the outfield and Kaitlin Ratich caught the hit from the third batter.
At the top of the seventh inning, Knowlton hit a double for one RBI. Tolmie hit it over the fence on her hit, bringing in two runs, ending the game 21-17.
“We have just a good variety of hitters in our line up,” Smith said. “They are all capable of doing a lot of great things at the plate. We have ones who will send it over and we have some who are going to be a base hit when we need to run scores. It’s nice to have that variety. Right now working on confidence to point they know they can do their job when they are supposed to do their job.”
Both teams finished the first inning of the second game scoreless.
Lakeland scored two runs at the top of the second inning and one run in the third inning to lead 3-0.
Cady hit a double in the third inning to bring in one run. Ratich had one RBI off her hit to close the third inning, 3-2.
The game was called after the fourth inning due to darkness with Lakeland leading, 5-2.
The girls opened the season splitting a double header with Milford on April 12. They had a 12-6 win. Freshman Gracie Cantley hit a grand slam home run over the fence and another home run for six RBIs, going 2-for-2 in the game. Tolmie had four hits and Cady had two RBIs. Knowlton pitched for 4.2 innings and Gushen pitched for 2.1 innings.
They lost to Milford, 15-8. Cady had two hits and Giselle Bice had three RBIs. Knowlton pitched for two innings and had three strikeouts. Gushen pitched for 1.2 innings with one strikeout.
The Wolves opened the week on Tuesday with a double header against Clio.
JV heads to Milford for a double header, 4:30 p.m.
Both teams head to Troy Athens on Friday, 4:30 p.m. and to Davison on Tuesday, April 26, 4 p.m.
The JV team heads to the Imlay City Tournament on Saturday at Imlay City High School.

  softball