Northwest softball team nips Holdrege in Central 10 action

Grand Island Northwest outlasted Holdrege in a 7-5 slugfest Thursday in Central 10 Conference play.

The Vikings (6-15) and Dusters (8-9) were tied 5-5 in the top of the sixth inning when the Vikings played small ball for the lead.

Jessica Helmer led off the sixth inning for the Vikings with a sharp single to left field and Helmer advanced to second on Taryn Shotkoski's sacrifice bunt. The Vikings then attempted to bunt Helmer to third, but Whitney Hedges laid down a perfect bunt between the pitching mound and first base, which resulted in Hedges not only having an infield single, but Helmer scoring from second base on the play to take a 6-5 lead.

Northwest struck for one more insurance run in the top of the seventh as singles by Erica Hughes, Jennifer Zarek and Helmer notched one more run.

Kelsey Scherer retired the Holdrege batters in order in the bottom of the seventh to register a complete-game win.

The Vikings hammered out 15 hits and only committed three errors in the game. Vikings coach Mike Witt said he was pleased about his team's defense.

"Although we had three boots, they were all in the first inning," Witt said. "We seemed to refocus defensively after the first and we made some nice plays behind Kelsey, who pitched extremely well for us."

Kelly Olsufka and Hughes led the Viking offense with three hits each.

Northwest will play Seward to open the Crete Invitational Tournament on Saturday.



GINW (6-15)        202    010    0--7    15    3

Holdrege (8-9)    202    010    0--5    10    1

W--Scherer (5-9). L--Fingerhut. 2B--GINW, Olsufka, Hughes.


TENNIS

Islanders boys shut out North Star, 9-0

LINCOLN -- Grand Island completely dominated Lincoln North Star in a tennis dual Friday, shutting out the Navigators 9-0.

Islanders' co-coach Brooke Mierau said she was pleased about her team's improved play.

"We played very well today," Mierau said. "I was extremely happy with our ground strokes in singles play and our aggressive play at the net in doubles."

Grand IslandJohn Steinke defeated Cao Nguyen in No. 1 singles action  8-1. Later, he teamed up with Cody Bartlett in No. 1 doubles play to top the team of Ngoc Mai and Kyle Podwinski 8-3.

Duke Nguyen had an 8-0 win at No. 5 singles for Grand Island's most dominant victory.

The Islanders will next compete in the Hastings Invitational on Saturday.



GISH 9, Lincoln North Star 0

Singles

No. 1--John Steinke, GISH, def. Cao Nguyen, LNS, 8-1.

No. 2--Lance Kush, GISH, def. Lam Hoag, LNS, 8-1.

No. 3--Cody Bartlett, GISH, def. Khang Phan, LNS, 9-8 (7-5).

No. 4--Ryan McCarty, GISH, def. Nguyen Nguyen, LNS, 8-4.

No. 5--Duke Nguyen, GISH, def. Donald Tham, LNS, 8-0.

No. 6--Trevor Fugitt, GISH, def. Michael Kirklin, LNS, 8-2.

Doubles

No. 1--Steinke/Bartlett, GISH, def. Mai/Podwinski, LNS, 8-3.

No. 2--Kush/Nguyen, GISH, def. Phan/Hoag, LNS, 8-3.

No. 3--McCarty/Fugitt, GISH, def. Nguyen/Nguyen, LNS, 8-5.



GOLF

Huston earns seventh-place finish for GISH

LINCOLN -- Hannah Huston led Grand Island Senior High's girls golf team to an eighth-place Thursday in the Spartan Invitational at Mahoney Golf Course.

Huston shot a 90 to place seventh in the individual race. Lindsey Massing added a 105 for the Islanders.

"Hannah had a nice day, but as a team, we didn't play as well as we would've liked," GISH coach Kelli Jeffries said. "There were a couple of tough pin placements and we just didn't put very well."

Norfolk edged Fremont 357-362 for the team title. Norfolk's Nicole Mooberry shot 79 to win medalist honors by four strokes over Sara Thurley of Columbus.

The Islander girls will next be in action Monday, hosting Hastings.



Spartan Invitational

At Lincoln Mahoney G.C.

Team Standings

Norfolk 357, Fremont 362, Columbus 367, Beatrice 380, Lincoln Southeast 394, Lincoln Southwest 394, Lincoln Pius X 400, Grand Island 411, Lincoln East 411, Millard West 423, Lincoln Northeast 441, Kearney 485, Lincoln North Star 502.

Individual Medalists

1, Nicole Mooberry, Norfolk, 79. 2, Sara Thurley, Columbus, 83. 3, Morgan Smejkal, Columbus, 85. 4, MaKayla Anderson, Fremont, 85. 5, Jacqueline O'Doherty, Lincoln East, 86. 6, Sophie Peters, Fremont, 87. 7, Hannah Huston, Grand Island, 90. 8, Lauren Bahle, Norfolk, 90. 9, Jenna Krieger, Lincoln Southeast, 91. 10, Betsy Havekost, Beatrice, 92. 11, Sydney Moran, Beatrice, 92. 12, Mariel Groh, Fremont, 93. 13, Lindsay Determan, Lincoln Pius X, 93. 14, Gentry Carveth, Lincoln Southwest, 93. 15, Kenzie Buettner, Norfolk, 94.

Grand Island (411)

Hannah Huston 90, Zandria Cole 109, Courtney Cahoy 107, Lindsey Massing 105, Gracie Ash 110.