Griswold shut out by CAM in regional quarterfinals

 GRISWOLD — The Griswold softball season came to an end last Wednesday when they lost in the 1A regional quarterfinals 1-0 to CAM at Griswold High School.

The lone run of the game was scored by Karli Waters on a base hit from Tehya Hansen in the third inning.

Griswold had six hits in the game, but they weren’t able to capitalize and send runners home.

“You got to take your hat off to CAM’s defense,” Griswold softball coach Peggy Hansen said. “They made the plays when we had runners on and there’s only been a couple of times that our bats have been that silent this year and unfortunately the same result.”

Alyx Flippin was responsible for two of those hits as she was 2-for-2 at the plate.

Mandi Backhaus, Marlia Rossell, Hannah Misner and Morgan Godwin had the other hits in the game.

With the exception of the run scored in the third, Griswold’s defense was able to hold CAM to six base runners in the game.

“Unfortunately to say, any other night I would have praised them on their defensive game because we probably would have been able to say our defense kept us in until our bats came alive,” Hansen said.

Rachel Riker got the shutout for CAM as she struck out six batters.

The Tigers will lose one senior from this team in Brooke Hansen.

“[Brooke has] done a lot for the program in a lot of ways,” Hansen said.

Hansen was the go-to pitcher for Griswold this season, finishing with a 10-12 record. The senior had a 2.30 ERA with 87 strikeouts.

Hansen had been pitching for Griswold since she was an eighth grader. She was back-up pitcher for her first two seasons. However, an ACL tear led to Hansen missing her sophomore season.

“She’s put in a lot of time and effort and softball became that much more meaningful when she couldn’t play for a season,” Coach Hansen said.

One player who will likely take up more of a pitching role next season will be Rossell.

Rossell had 10 starts for Griswold this season and also made three relief appearances.

The junior was 5-5 with a 4.09 ERA and 47 strikeouts this season.