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Dixie Heights shows it is the team to beat
By Ryan Ernst
Enquirer staff writer
Dixie Heights fast-pitch softball coach Dean Fookes broke the news to his team just before it opened its Northern Kentucky schedule Tuesday at Simon Kenton.
"I don't pay much attention to the newspapers," Fookes said to his players, the defending Ninth Region champions. "But apparently they had in there that we're the team to beat. So I want you to carry yourself like that from the time you show up until the time you leave."
The Colonels, the top-ranked team in the Enquirer coaches' poll, did just that in their 11-0 five-inning victory over No. 5 Simon Kenton.
Sophomore pitcher Emily Kordenbrock allowed just two hits and struck out seven to pick up the win. Offensively the Colonels (2-2) capitalized on 11 walks, turning five bases on balls into runs.
"We're still young and a lot of it was a matter of experience," first-year Simon Kenton coach Jamie Baker said. "We made mistakes and they took advantage of them."
The Pioneers' most harmful mistakes came during the Colonels' four-run fifth inning.
Dixie's first three batters reached base on a pair of errors and a walk. Stevi Schmidt, the leadoff batter, then scored on a wild pitch and Kristine Stelzer cleared the bases with a double that made the score 10-0 and ultimately shortened the game.
Stelzer, a senior first baseman, finished the game 1-for-1 with two RBI and four runs. Senior catcher Sarah Gronefeld was 2-for-3 with two runs. Those two players managed half Dixie's hits on a day when the Colonels didn't need to get the bat off their shoulders to score runs.
"I would have liked to have seen them get to swing the bat a little more," Fookes said. "But you don't them to develop bad habits either."
Simon Kenton (1-3) went through two pitchers, eighth-grader Chelsea Bond and freshman Jessica Farris, but didn't pitch ace Jennifer Lang, a senior all-region player.
Baker said she wanted to get her younger players some experience against a quality opponent.
Fookes said he suspected the Pioneers were saving Lang for the two district rivals' rematch in May.
If the Pioneers win that game, they would be seeded above Dixie in the three-team district tournament due to the state's tiebreaker rules.
"So really, this game meant nothing unless we get rained out at the end of the season," Fookes said. "But next time we play them we'll see Jennifer Lang; I'm sure."
The game was originally scheduled to be played at Dixie Heights, but due to construction at the school was switched to Simon Kenton. The two teams' May 9 contest originally scheduled for Simon Kenton will instead be played at Dixie Heights.