Throwing and fielding errors and stranded runners put Trojans on wrong end of 10-7 season opener at Hobart in game shortened by darkness

Tom Keegan
onwardtrojans.com

Mix a 41-degree wind chill for the opening pitch with a layer of rust from not having played a game that counts for a long while, toss in a starting time well after the scheduled 4:30 p.m., block the sun with a thick layer of clouds, and some bizarre things are bound to happen on a high school softball field that doesn’t have lights.
And a strange game it was Monday afternoon at Hobart High, where the Brickies defeated Chesterton in the season opener, 10-7, in a contest shortened to five innings by darkness.
It’s not often that a pitching staff combines to hit seven batters and still wins the game, but that’s what the Brickies did.
The Trojans committed five errors of the infield, outfield, throwing and fielding variety, leading to seven unearned runs, left 10 runners on base, had a costly baserunning blunder and yet strangely enough still showed that this could be a decent season.
“We finally calmed down a little bit,” first-year head coach Erin Cochran said. “I think we can definitely beat that team. It was just we had the nerves on the corners and it kind of rattled us, but once we settled down and switched some things up, I think they did a great job, and they showed what we can do once they’re settled down.”
Freshman Payton Cherep had an impressive debut, going 2 for 3 at the plate with a double and an RBI, and in three innings of relief struck out three and limited the Brickies to one earned run, two total.
“I definitely started off rough, but I think I got better in the middle and end of the game,” Cherep said, referencing the hard line drive she dropped at first for an error. “At first base, I started off rough.”
Still, she left a strong impression both from the circle and at the plate.
Hanna Florian, who had so much turn sour behind her in the Brickies’ six-run first inning that just two of the eight runs she allowed in one inning plus two batters were earned.
Florian allowed five hits but didn’t allow her off pitching performance to sully the rest of her play. She made all the plays after moving to first base, despite not practicing there yet this season, and had a productive day at the plate.
Cherep wasn’t the only one with an impressive varsity debut. Sophomore Kaydence Ford went 2 for 3, scored a run and drove in two. Leadoff hitter Alexia Franco doubled, singled and had a sacrifice fly, and catcher Olivia Milton threw out a runner attempting to steal.
The most exciting plays of the day for the Trojans were supplied by Lexi Smith, playing shortstop in the absence of injured Lila Miller. Smith made impressive stops on a pair of hard-hit grounders in the second inning and delivered throws on time to get the outs.
It seemed to break the tension for the rest of the players and the team’s defense was better the rest of the way than it had been.
“She had some good plays and that kind of stepped up our play too, like, ‘Hey, she’s making the plays, we need to play with her,’” Cochran said.
Smith called shortstop her “top position,” and showed how well she can play it. She was encouraged with how the Trojans finished the game.
“I think the first inning was a little rough but once we got that first inning out of the way, we performed really well,” she said.
The Trojans did enough good things to make it easy to picture them winning their fair share of games if they can do a better job of limiting errors, mental and physical ones.
No one will ever know if the Trojans could have come all the way back had the game lasted a full seven innings, but the teams might meet again in eight weeks. They both are in the Chesterton Sectional field.
Weather and field conditions permitting, the Trojans will have their home debut Thursday at 5 p.m. vs. Griffith.