FINAL:
SOUTH 3
GODDARD 1

Salina South entered Thursday riding a four-game winning streak, having outscored its opponents 47-7 during that stretch.

The Goddard Lions were in town to play just the third game of their season after splitting a doubleheader at Valley Center a week earlier.

Both Salina South and Goddard’s starting pitchers were fresh off great outings and well rested. Although it was a small sample size coming in, both pitchers looked as good as advertised throughout Thursday’s game.

Cougars senior Jace Humphrey’s last start saw him go six innings allowing only one hit with six strikeouts at Abilene.

Similar to his last outing, Humphrey relied on his breaking ball to get outs. After surrendering the first run of the game in the second inning on Thursday, Humphrey brought his best stuff.

His fastball, breaking ball combination kept the Lions hitters off balance. The breaking ball was located especially well throughout the game; biting the corners for called strikes and inducing constant swings and misses.

Humphrey struck out the side in the third inning and carried that momentum into the dugout with his teammates.

The Cougars scored a run in each of the next three innings to take the lead, while Humphrey delivered several shutdown frames. He finished his outing allowing just one run on five hits, striking out seven over six innings on 97 pitches.

Cougars catcher Bronx Sitton had a perfect day at the plate, walking twice and collecting his first hit of the season.

Wyatt Breeden supplied an insurance run for the Cougars with an RBI single in the fifth that scored Caden Stauffer.

Stauffer moved from shortstop to the mound in the seventh, looking to secure the final three outs. After allowing a leadoff hit, he worked from the stretch and retired the side in order, ending the game with a dramatic strikeout looking. It was the first save of the season for any Salina South pitcher and capped a fifth straight win for the Cougars.