Howey homers, Fliers fall under the lights

CLYDE — It was a beautiful night for softball Saturday at Joe Wilson Field. That's right, a night game — the Fliers' new turf field also has stadium lighting, using the light towers from Clyde's own soccer field. And the conditions were pristine for high-level softball. "It's an awesome experience for the kids, just awesome," Clyde coach Marc Marshall said. "Just the whole facility, it's pretty special." Unfortunately for Clyde, Eastwood was one run better in a 4-3 victory. The Eagles also beat Mansfield Madison earlier in the evening after the Rams beat the Fliers in the opener of the tripleheader. The Eagles were thrilled to be part of Clyde's first-ever home night game. "The lights are really good," Eastwood coach Joe Wyant said. "The field is excellent. These guys did it right. These lights are super. I could play all the games at night. It's beautiful at night." The highlight on the night for Clyde came from junior Ella Howey. With one runner on in the sixth, trailing 4-1, Howey got her hands up to a pitch up in the zone and launched it. The fluorescent yellow ball looked especially cool soaring through the night sky. It landed beyond the left-center fence for Howey's second home run of the season, and second of her career, to pull the Fliers within one. "She put a good swing on it," Marshall said. "We need all of them to keep doing that." Aside from the home run, Clyde struggled with runners in scoring position. Across Saturday's two games, the Fliers were 2-for-18 in those spots. It wasn't all bad approach by Clyde. In the fourth inning against Eastwood, Maddie Dukeshire and Kennedi Long singled back-to-back to start the frame. The Fliers just got unlucky from there as Howey hit a frozen rope right at the shortstop and Vanessa West followed suit right at the second baseman. Eastwood's Cassi Kieper, a senior committed to pitch at Siena Heights, got one of her seven strikeouts to escape that jam. Kieper actually ended five of the game's seven innings with a K. "Cass pitched really well today," Wyant said. "I think a lot harder than she has, and a little more confident, too." Eastwood put two runs on the board in the top of the first with a single, an error, a wild pitch and a squeeze bunt. The Eagles added one in the third on a run-scoring hit by Lilly Escobedo. Clyde responded with a run in the fifth when Mya Stiefel eventually scored on a Taitum Jeffrey fly to right field that was misplayed. Eastwood put up a key insurance tally in the sixth when Cynthea Cassdorph lined an RBI double over the right-fielder to make it 4-1. "I was afraid we'd go 0-2 tonight," Wyant said. "I was afraid we'd go 0-2 tonight, because (Madison and Clyde) both have nice teams. But our kids came through." Following Howey's homer in the bottom of the sixth, West and Aurelia Moya each singled for Clyde, but two popouts and a groundout allowed the Eagles to escape with the lead. "We just haven't been able to get the key hit," Marshall said. In the seventh, Kieper notched two punchouts around a groundout to short to end it. This was the only night contest on Clyde's schedule for this spring, but after how well it went, expect more down the road. Next up for the Fliers: Six games in six days starting Monday. "It's a big week," Marshall said. "You count today, it's eight games in eight days. We'll see what we're made of." Eastwood 201 001 0 — 4 7 4Clyde 000 012 0 — 3 7 1WP: Kieper. LP: Dukeshire 2B: (E) Cassdorph. HR: (C) Howey