Photo by Will Cornelius
Senior Cemryn Pickett has a 13-3 record from the circle with four no-hitters this season while also maintaining a 0.523 batting average with two home runs. Pictured above is Pickett rounding first during the Spartan Invitational in Loveland earlier this month.

By Brendan Henry
The Surveyor

The Lady Spartans may have reignited the fire with their home win against Strasburg High School on Sept. 21. Coming away with eight runs against Strasburg’s two, Berthoud captured their 15th win of the season last Thursday, rectifying their loss to Eaton High School on Sept. 19 that killed their six-game win streak.

Senior pitcher Cemryn Pickett started hot by only allowing four batters to take her on in the top of the first. Strasburg made contact with a ball that dribbled down the foul line going beyond the field of play, automatically resulting in a double for the batter. That same batter tried to steal third base, but Berthoud’s infielders were up to the task, tagging her out for a strong end at the top of the first inning.

Looking to follow up the top of the first with a strong batting performance, junior Shaylee Spears stole second and third after hitting a solid line drive down the middle. Unfortunately, the inning would end before Spears was able to find home plate.

Things started looking a bit dicey for the Spartans on defense with Pickett throwing three walks and having only one out. While the situation was stacked against them, Pickett pitched a strikeout and a pop-up that saved the team from potential disaster early in the game.

Having come away with clutch back-to-back plays, Berthoud answered near disaster with a ruffling of their own. Sophomore Lexie Griffin started the bottom of the second inning by blasting a ball to left field, resulting in a double. This was followed by hits from freshman Alanna Lukensow, sophomore Jessa Jorissen and juniors Mason Premer and Lily Dodd that resulted in four runs.

The Spartans would hold their four-run lead until the top of the fourth when Strasburg managed to steal second and third base simultaneously after being on first and second. This was followed by a runner stealing home and a Strasburg double that resulted in the only two runs the visiting team would gain in the matchup.

The fifth and sixth innings were surgical for Berthoud as they only gave up a walk on defense while adding four more runs from the batter’s box to extend their lead over the visitors to six runs.

Strasburg could have started a rally in the top of the seventh as a ball fired out through the air toward second base, but shortstop Premer made an incredible snag to put down any hopes for the visitors. The snag was followed by an easy out at first and after a pitched walk Pickett finished it with a game-ending strikeout.
Strasburg has not been pushovers this season though, accumulating an 11-3 record going into the game. Berthoud’s Head Softball Coach Buddy Kouns and his team were aware of this going in and prepared for a competitive outing.

“That’s a good softball team that we played tonight. They’re scrappy, and we knew we were going to have our hands full coming into it. We hit the ball timely. We did a nice job offensively. (Cemryn) worked through some troubles there in the mid-innings, she was able to get beyond it and work through it. So, it’s, you know, we’re building in the right direction,” Kouns said after the game.

Any good coach knows that even though you have a good record, there is always something to improve upon. Kouns said he wants his team to work on both situational hitting and sustaining momentum as he felt they left a few runs out on the field.

“If you get them early, you got to just keep going, because you give a team like that a little life, they’ll claw their way back into it,” Kouns said.

On Sept. 26, Berthoud hosted the Lyons High School Lions in a high-powered pitching matchup. In a thriller, the Spartans battled back with a game-tying run at the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game 1-1 and send the game into extra innings. In the eighth inning with two runners on base, Griffin hit a deep single down the right-field foul line to send Spears home for the winning run to beat Lyons 2-1.

With four more games scheduled this season, Berthoud will look to build momentum heading into the postseason. Today, the Spartans will travel far out east to play Sterling High School followed by an Oct. 2 matchup with Resurrection Christian High School in Loveland. Their final home game will be on Oct. 3 against Platte Valley High School before their final regular season game at Timnath High School on Oct. 5.