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Photo by John Wagner

Photo by John Wagner

The high school softball and soccer seasons finally got under way in the Interior on Monday and there was plenty of excitement on the fields throughout Fairbanks.

There were highlights aplenty as three softball games and four soccer matches were played as most teams tested themselves of the first time this spring.

• Monroe Catholic pulled out a 7-6 victory over Eielson in the Aurora Conference softball opener for both teams.

• Pitchers from Lathrop (Ilaura Reeves) and North Pole (Liz Hall) both tossed no-hitters in nonconference games against Delta Junction.

• Hutchison registered its first win ever in boys soccer, but the girls team fell in its first game ever.

• Lathrop’s two new coaches — Danny Gibson for the girls and Sean Matheny for the boys — had successful debuts with wins over Eielson.

Monroe softball

Pinch-runner Bella Evans scored on Christine Sanderson’s fielder’s choice in the bottom of the third inning to give Monroe Catholic a 7-6 win over Eielson in a game that was called on the time-limit rule.

Annalies Barnard opened the inning with a walk. Evans ran for Barnard. After a one-out walk to Emma Young, Barnard scored on Sanderson’s fielder’s choice grounder to third base.

Winning pitcher Joscelyn Ribar recorded six strikeouts and gave up eight walks in three innings on the mound.

Hillary Heater had two hits for the Rams, Sanderson ripped a double, and Mattie Ringstad and Katie Young collected a hit apiece.

Christine and Lacy (last names not available) registered hits for the Ravens.

Monroe Catholic plays a doubleheader at Delta Junction on Saturday. Eielson takes on North Pole tonight.

Lathrop softball

Reeves pitched a perfect game for three innings and registered eight strike outs in a 20-0 win over Delta.

Nona Letuligasenoa belted a home run for the Malemutes and Jordan Reeves had two inside-the-park homers to pace the Malemutes’ offensive attack.

“The entire team really hit the ball well tonight,” Lathrop co-coach Sarah Cleworth said.

Cleworth also complimented Delta pitcher Kendall Knight for her performance.

“She showed a lot of heart,” Cleworth said. “She was diving all over the place trying to get the ball.”

Lathrop returns to action on Friday for an Aurora Conference match against Colony.

North Pole softball

North Pole bounced back from four last weekend in Juneau to beat Delta Junction 12-0 behind Hall’s no-hit pitching performance. Hall struck out six and walked one in the five-inning game.

Tasha Thomas paced the offense with a 2-for-2 effort at the plate, driving in three runs. Nicole Chalstrom also went 2-for-2 with two RBI.

“We had a rough weekend, so this was a good win for us,” said North Pole coach Rod Avery. “We learned a lot down there. If we keep our mistakes to a minimum, we’ll be OK and we did that tonight.”

Stacy Krepel and Knight pitched for the Huskies and coach Lindsay Pinkelman said she thinks her troops will bounce back for Wednesday’s conference doubleheader at Eielson.

Hutchison soccer

Freshmen Eli Seymour and Kris Kozak triggered the offense and keeper Stefan Catechis allowed just one goal as the Hutchison boys rolled to a 7-1 win over Monroe Catholic for its first ever victory.

“They guys were pretty hyped up,” said Hutchison coach Scott Tompkins. “They’ve worked really hard on conditioning and they really wanted to win this game.”

The Hawks also got solid defensive performances from Cole Daniel and Paden Henze-Nelson.

Christine Davis registered a hat trick and Leah Pfrogner added a goal as the Monroe Catholic girls opened their season with a 5-0 win over Hutchison. Keeper Bianca Hinojosa registered the shutout.

“It was a good start,” said Monroe coach Justin Rasette. “This should get some confidence going since we only had a couple of outdoor practices before this game.”

Stephanie Acevedo and Kayla Robertson anchored Hutchison’s defense, while Feya Hutchens, Alexis Tompkins and Julie Swisher provided offensive support.

Lathrop sweeps

Freshman Kim Fitzgerald and junior Brook Zellweger scored goals as the Lathrop girls opened the season with a 2-1 win over Eielson.

The Ravens lone goal came in the closing moments of the game off a corner kick.

“It was all right for our first game,” Lathrop coach Danny Gibson said. “For the most part we played well, but we had a hard time finishing. We’ve got a lot of work to do before our next game.”

The Lathrop boys rolled to a 12-0 victory. Details were not available Monday evening.