Rough Start To The Season For THS Softball

  TIPTON — It was a tough week for the THS softball team. Last week, the Tigers played four games and lost all four. The Tigers hosted their first River Valley Conference doubleheader of the season when Iowa City Regina came to town. The Tigers also hosted their annual home softball tournament.
 Tipton entered the Regina doubleheader already having faced a top-5 team in Class 2A when they lost two games at No. 3 Wilton. Last Thursday, No. 4 Iowa City Regina came to town. There, the Regals won game one 4-0 and game two, 15-1.
  Regal Ace Katie Bracken was the winning pitcher after pitching a 1-hit shutout for the complete game win. Bracken entered the game coming o of a perfect game against Bellevue the week before. Bracken struck out 15 Tipton batters and walked one. The Regals scored single runs in the rst and third innings to take a 2-0 lead. That score held until a two-run sixth for the Regals to set the score at 4-0. Elly Gahan was 2-for-3 with a RBI while Bracken hit a solo home run to lead Regal batters.
  In the second game, Emma Nibaur was the winning pitcher after four innings of work where she scattered three Tipton hits and struck out five. Regina had 12 hits in the game, led by Courtney Kes- sler who was 3-for-3 with an RBI. Bracken also hit a home run and drove in three in the second game.
  This year, the Tipton tournament had River Valley Conference North foes Northeast and Anamosa. There, the Tigers fell to Anamosa 9-0 and fell to Northeast 18-0 in three innings.
  Against Northeast, Tipton fell behind 12-0 in the rst inning and could not recover. The Rebels added ve runs in the top of the second and a single run in the third to get their 18 runs. Alyssa Pessman was the winning pitcher after giving up two hits. Alexis Ehlers and Valerie Spooner each had third hits to lead Northeast. Neveah Hildebrant had a home run and 3 RBI’s while Audrey Morris, Spooner and Abby Boyer each drove in three runs. The Rebels have started the season 6-2.
  Against Anamosa, Tipton lost 9-0. The Raiders scored three runs in each of the rst two innings to take control of the ball game. Maggie McQuillen was the winning pitcher after ve innings of work. She struck out ve and gave up three hits. Grace Lubben and Ellie Tallman each had three hits to lead Anamosa. Three others had two hits each. Anamosa has started the season 9-0. Anamosa beat Northeast 2-1 in the other ball game of the tournament.
Tipton hosts Northeast this Friday in their regular-season meeting and will host Anamosa later this month on Monday, June 24.