Gowanda Small Town Times

Gowanda picked up a non-league win over Eden on April 13. After that night game victory, they took a moment at home base for a photo wit their 2022 Championship banner. Photo courtesy of the Gowanda Athletics Department

On April 13 the Gowanda Varsity softball team hosted Eden for a game that was as exciting as anyone could hope for. Although Gowanda secured two quick outs against Eden to start our the game it quickly became obvious that things wouldn’t be that easy going forward. The next batter was on 1st base when Eden’s 4th batter launched the ball over the fence in left center field. Gowanda was down 2-0 as they came up to bat. Gowanda’s leadoff batter was Gao:Wisa:S “Wassy” Stevens. She started out on 1st base after being hit by the very first pitch thrown by the Eden pitcher. Gowanda’s next batter, Addison Kota, answered Eden’s home run by smashing the ball over the fence just to the right of the spot of the Eden homer. Two outs followed and the game was tied at 2 after one inning.

The second inning went scoreless. Gowanda got in trouble early in the 3rd inning. After the first batter was walked the next was hit in the helmet with a pitch. Those two runner made their way to 2nd and 3rd base before a first out was secured. Eden then scored from 3rd on a passed ball. From there, Gowanda pulled done two outs to escape the inning. In the bottom of the inning, after one out, Stevens was up again. She singled down the 3rd base line. She was tagged out at 2nd as Holland Browning singled. Kota was back at bat scoring Browning with a triple to deep left field. That was followed by a Jada Geiger triple to deep right field. Gowanda picked up a third run in the inning as Ella Luther singled.

Both teams saw their batters retired in order in the 4th inning. Things heated up again in the 5th. Eden scored three times in the inning after registering two outs. A strikeout ended their inning with two runners stranded on base. When Gowanda got their turn the first batter would be struck out. That brought up Stevens again and another single straight up the middle along the ground. A pair of passed balls allowed her to move all the way to 3rd base. Browning singled again scoring Stevens and Eden stopped to change pitchers. Browning was, then, cut off at 2nd on a Kota single. Kota scored on a Geiger single. Geiger, in turn, scored on a Luther double before Eden secured a 3rd out.

Gowanda was now up 8-6. Both teams would score twice in the 6th inning. For Gowanda it was leadoff batter Hailey Christopher followed by Aubrie Heron. Heron had initially tried to head for home base getting caught in a rundown just short of the base. After Eden tried to pick her off going back to 3rd, she reversed direction and beat the Eden catcher to home.

To close out the game, down 10-8, Eden had two runners on base with one out on a single and a walk. They moved their score to 9 as the next runner was thrown out at 1st base. With a potential tying run still on 2nd base, Gowanda closed out the game with a strikeout.