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Metea Valley gets out to a rough start

All the excitement around opening day went away quickly on Monday afternoon, but there will be many better days ahead for the Metea Valley softball team.

After cold weather wiped out last Saturday's scheduled season opener, the Mustangs opened the new year by hosting Plainfield North in Aurora. The visiting Tigers quickly jumped ahead 4-0 in the first on a 3-run homer run by Emily Kitchell and went on to blank Metea Valley 9-0.

Kitchell, a shortstop, went 2-for-3 for Plainfield North (1-1) including a pair of home runs over the wall in left-center field off Mustangs starter Elise Titiner (0-1). After Kitchell's first blast on a 2-0 pitch made the score 4-0 after half an inning, the Tigers defense and pitching made sure the hosts never got things going.

Plainfield North starter Abby Kruzel blanked Metea Valley on 2 hits through five innings and Bri Dunbar and Lauren Dietz each tossed a scoreless inning of relief.

"I don't know that we were ready to go from the start and that was the disappointing part of that game," Mustangs coach Kris Kalivas said. "We talked early on that the ball was going to be in play all the time and every better and we worked hard defensively to prepare for that. Unfortunately we didn't show that today from the start."

Tigers leadoff hitter Kellie Frenza opened the game with a deep fly to right that Kalivas thought was playable but went for a triple. One out later a cue ball off the end of the bat went for an infield single, and an RBI single by Morgan Krieger then drove home the game's first run and set the stage for Kitchell to reach down for a low pitch and carry the ball high over the fence for a quick 4-run lead.

Plainfield North scored four more runs with five hits in the third, and Kitchell's second homer made the score 9-0 in the fourth. The Tigers defense, meanwhile, made all the plays in the field, and the infield showed plenty of range and strong throwing arms along the way.

"They wanted to win more than we did was what it looked like," said Kalivas, whose team was minus two regulars. "They did take away a couple hits from us. They had a nice defensive game and they hit the ball hard. They definitely were the better team today."

One bright spot for the Mustangs was left fielder Peyton Voights, who had two of the team's three hits and also played well in the field. She is expecting big things from her team this spring.

"They jumped on us pretty quick, and being the first time out it was kind of hard for us to adapt," Voights said. "But as the season goes on I think we'll be able to adapt to that better. Everybody's very positive. We have a positive, energetic team which will help us succeed."

Tigers coach Allison Wodziak, meanwhile, was thrilled to see her team win after it had let a 6-1 lead slip away in its opener against Coal City after one bad inning.

"I love my infield. They're just good," she said. "Right now they feel good and I'm going to let them ride that out as long as they can."

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