Taking a 17-13 win against the Independence Knights on Thursday night, the Redhawks softball team heads straight into the next game against the Walnut Grove Wildcats Friday at 6:30 p.m. at the Wildcat softball field, hoping to have another victory.

“Thursday’s game actually went really well,” junior Madison Terry said. “We connected our hits together as a team and we produced a lot of runs, which was really good.”

Terry believes that a big factor in the team’s success was having a good strong inning, bringing in energy on the field and in the dugout.

“We had a really big inning and the energy in the dugout was crazy and it continued on the field and we just finished out the game strong,” she said.

Head Coach Baylea Higgs agrees with Terry and is delighted to see the team thrive. 

“We just accomplished a lot against Independence, hitting really well at the plate, which was good to see,” Higgs said. “We hit well with runners in scoring position, which was the goal and I was happy to see that.”

Playing again on Friday night, Terry believes that the win on Thursday will build the self-assurance of the players, and hopes that the team can appropriately adjust to the level of play from the Wildcats.

“I think going off of a win last night will help our confidence tonight. Coming off Thursday hopefully we can keep the hitting that we did yesterday and continue into today’s game,” Terry said. “A goal for tonight as a team is adjusting to the pitching. We went from a slower pitcher Thursday and Friday we’ll be against pitchers throwing faster so just being able to adjust our hands quick”

Higgs also believes the success against Independence will positively play into the game against the Wildcats on Friday.

“I hope that we just carry the confidence and the approach that we have at the plate we had Thursday,” she said. “I hope we carry that into the game because the girls were just seeing the ball and hitting good pitches, playing offensively strong”

Higgs wants the team to play another great offensive game for Walnut Grove, a team they lost to 10-4 earlier in the season. 

“Tonight we really want to make the routine plays and to swing at good pitches and not the pitchers’ pitches so when we get a good pitcher hit, jump on it and not wait till we get two strikes to have a ‘I gotta hit the ball’ approach,” Higgs said.