HS Softball: Wyoming East surprises Midland Trail

New Richmond - Wyoming East junior Kaydee Shrewsbury had never hit two home runs in the same game during her high school career.

For that matter, the Wyoming East catcher had never hit a home run period at the high school level.

That all changed Tuesday night.

Leading off the bottom of the first with a blast over the centerfield fence, Shrewsbury doubled down on long balls when she launched another solo homer an inning later.

Shrewsbury's effort was part of a solid night all around for the Warriors who stunned Midland Trail 7-3 at the War Zone.

The first home run of the night for Shrewsbury came after a pair misses.

"I didn't like those first two swings, so I told myself, choke and poke," Shrewsbury said. "I choked (up) to put it in play, the next thing I knew it was over the fence."

An inning later, Shrewsbury came to the plate with a different mindset and made it a 3-0 lead for Wyoming East when she homered this time to right field.

"I had confidence I could do it again. So, I did it again," Shrewsbury said. "We just came out in a really good mood today. We turned on some music in the cages and everything. We just knew we could do it if we our minds to it."

The second run in the first inning for Wyoming East came two pitches later when Shrewsbury's cousin, and battery-mate, Carli Raye also homered to center. It was Raye's first of the year and fourth of her career.

"(Kaydee) homered and I knew it was my time," Raye said. "I couldn't let her beat me out like that, but she (ultimately) did tonight."

While the junior hurler was stellar at the plate going 4-for-4 with two runs batted in, Raye was also masterful in the circle, scattering seven hits, allowed just one earned run, while fanning 10 Patriots for the win.

"The last time we played, to be honest, they smoked us. We just came today with the mindset that we had to win this game. It was a big regional game," Raye said. Our bats had been cold recently, so we had to show up on offense and defense. I was just using a mixture of curve balls and change-ups. I had to keep them leaning either way."

Raye also had the knack Tuesday night of coming up big when Trail had runners in scoring position.

"(Carli) did her job today. We just didn't come out with the same fire that they did. They were aggressive and jumped on the ball," Midland Trail head coach Candace Young said. "We watched too many third strikes, not capitalizing on situations and getting bunts down."

The Patriots best chance to get control of the game was in the fifth inning when the visitors tied the game at 3-3. However, with two runners on base and just one out, Raye coaxed a pair of fly balls to escape the threat.

"It has been what has caught us all year. I think we left 11 on base tonight. We had 13 the other night," Young said. "We are getting there, but we are just not crossing the finish line. I don't how to push us to the next level. You can blame circumstances if you want to, but we are not going to make excuses."

Wyoming East wasted no time regaining the lead and ultimate control of the game.

Shrewsbury was intentionally walled to open the bottom of the frame and scored on a double from Raye. Mak Hatfield made it 5-3 East with an RBI-single, before later scoring on double from Reagan Bower.

The win snapped a three-game slide for the Warriors (4-8) and was the fifth loss in the last seven games for Midland Trail. A Patriot team that beat the Warriors 11-2 in the last meeting just over two weeks back.

"We have struggled the last few games. I am not sure if we had that in the back of our head that hey, we beat them last time and came in a little bit flat-footed," Young said. "They, of course, wanted that win, so they came out of the gate fired up. At the end of the day, we are just not executing like we should."