HTC girls reward Goetz with going away present

CONFIDENT

I’m getting more confident in being able to pitch to batters and not being scared of them standing up there.”

Sydney Jarvis, HTC freshman pitcher

WEST POINT – Holy Trinity got their sixth win of the year Tuesday night at South Park as a gift of sorts to outgoing HTC Athletic Director John Goetz.
The 18-year Holy Trinity director oversaw his last game decked out in Crusader blue and the HTC girls delivered with a 4-2 win over Mediapolis (10-6) in a SEI Superconference north matchup in West Point.
Freshman Sydney Jarvis went all seven innings surrendering just five hits and allowing two runs, both earned, while striking out six and walking just one – one of her best outings of the year.
Back on June 4, the Bulldogs rolled Holy Trinity 11-1 in five innings.
“Getting mercy-ruled last time and now being to be able to get the win was huge. It felt great being able to strike some of these girls out when last time I wasn’t able to very much. I’m getting more confident in being able to pitch to batters and not being scared of them standing up there,” Jarvis said after the win.
She said with the season winding down, six wins is really good for the very young HTC girls.
“We knew we had some big competition, but we also knew we could play with some of these teams. Six wins is huge for us,” she said.
Jarvis also walked two times and came around to score two crucial runs. Ellie Hellman led the Crusaders at the plate going 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs.
Kat DiPrima made a basket catch running in from right field to save a hit and wrap up a 1-2-3 top of the fourth inning. She also drove in the Crusaders' first run of the game on a line out RBI with one out in the bottom of the fourth.
“Those are two huge plays in a game like this and, if either one of those plays goes the other way, it might be a loss,” said head coach Loren Menke.
Holy Trinity would put up another run when Hellman followed Jarvis’ sacrifice with a sharp single to center that scored Brooklyn Todd from third to tie the game at 2.
HTC would break the tie in the bottom of the sixth inning. Jarvis would work a walk and Krogmeier would single to right to put runners at 1^st and third. She would steal second to put both runners in scoring position. Todd would ground out to first on a slow roller that allowed Jarvis to score. After a strikeout, Hellman would single on a line drive that Mediapolis third baseman Payton Harris almost snared, but the ball slipped out into foul territory, allowing Krogmeier to score the game's final run.
Mediapolis opened with a single in the top of the seventh, bringing the tying run to the plate three different times. But Jarvis got two strikeouts and a line out that Krogmeier caught at about her ankles to end the game setting off a celebration on the third base line.
Goetz came into the dugout to congratulate the girls after the game.
Menke said Jarvis was strong to the end and is learning to go the full seven innings.
“I think she’s just learning how to pitch a seven-inning game,” he said.
“She’s never had to do that before. She’s played a lot of travel ball, jayvee, timed games, five inning games, four inning games, and getting used to seven innings is a big change.
"She’s a really good player. She’s got a lot of confidence and believes in herself.”
Menke said he’s very happy with how the Crusaders have found ways to win being so young.
“We’re so inexperienced. They have blown away my expectations. I don’t know what the right number is, but six wins, yeah, we’re ecstatic and we can still win some more,” he said.
“We still don’t hit the ball hard and we don’t make a team like Hillcrest last night play defense. That’s not our strength, that’s why we’re bunting more and stealing more. Just trying to get people in scoring position. It’s strategy, but they’re learning a lot and making good plays.”
He said Emily Ross has been amazing at first, getting to almost every ball, and Krogmeier at second has played very, clean suffering her first error of the year in the win Tuesday.
Holy Trinity came up short Monday in a 5-2 loss to Hillcrest in West Point. The Crusaders got out to an early 2-0 lead after two, but then gave up three runs in the top of the third, and one each in the top of the sixth and seventh. Hillcrest kept HTC scoreless the rest of the way.
Elizabeth Griffin had the only hit for Holy Trinity, a two RBI triple to left that plated Krogmeier and Kara Lake.
The Crusader are off until Friday when they travel to Mt. Pleasant. They wrap up the regular season at West Burlington/Notre Dame on Monday July 1. Then post season starts on July 8.