No hits were no problem for Free State High’s softball team in a 3-0 victory in the nightcap of its doubleheader sweep of Leavenworth on Tuesday at FSHS.

Free State coach Pam Pine said she liked how her offense played, but mostly was talking about the opener, an 11-2 victory.

“I was real pleased with the girls today, especially the first game. We hit the ball really well,” Pine said.

But the second game saw a grand total of one base hit, and it didn’t go to Free State. But a run in the bottom of the second inning was all the Firebirds would need.

Ashely Wagner drew a walk from Leavenworth starter Toni Reynolds to lead off the inning. Wagner then followed with the boldest move of the game when, with Allie Hock executing a sacrifice bunt that was meant to move Wagner to second, she kept going to third.

Leavenworth’s Terri Reynolds seemed to have Wagner pegged for a sure out when she threw the ball from first, but third baseman Bryttani Powell dropped the ball when applying the tag.

Wagner scored on a fielder’s choice, and it was all the offense the Firebirds would need, even though they later would tack on a pair of runs, both coming off of wild pitches.

But why so much trouble hitting the ball?

“The different pitcher was a little slower. It’s harder to get your timing down,” Pine said. “That’s almost as hard as facing someone that throws really hard. But we did a good job and got the run that we needed.”

Free State High's Jamie Stanclift (15) makes a leaping slide past the Leavenworth second baseman during their game. Stanclift stole the base and then went on to score one of the five runs in the second inning against the Pioneers. The Firebirds swept a doubleheader Tuesday at FSHS.

Free State pitcher Catherine Smith took care of the rest, giving up only one hit and not allowing Leavenworth to mount much of a scoring threat. She also was the beneficiary of solid Free State defense.

Leavenworth experienced the exact opposite problem in the first game. The Pioneers committed as many errors as hits allowed (seven).

The second inning was especially bad when they committed three errors in a row after Livi Abney led off with a double.

Kayley Lane scored the last run of the five-run inning off a wild pitch. It left the Firebirds with nothing to fear the rest of the way as they cruised to victory behind Wagner’s pitching.

But Wagner said she was discouraged by the outing, citing the number of times Leavenworth batters made contact with her pitches.

“It was cold, and I wasn’t warmed up, and I wasn’t used to it, so I struggled,” Wagner said. “Luckily, my defense had my back the whole time.”

Pine disagreed and said Wagner pitched well.

Pine she liked how her team fought through the cold wind in both games.

“It was cold, and it would have been easy to say, ‘I’m cold and don’t want to play,'” Pine said. “But they sucked it up and did a good job.”