Panthers capture the title at the FZE Softball Tournament!

The FZN varsity softball team completed a busy week of softball by capturing top honors at the FZE Tournament. The Panthers played six games over the course of six days, the final three games at the East Tournament. Overall the Panthers went 5 – 1, wining their three tournament games (SCW, Lutheran and FZE) to go along with two regular season victories over St. Charles West and rival Fort Zumwalt South. The only defeat was a one-run set-back to Francis Howell North on Tuesday.

The team opened tournament play on Friday, posting two impressive wins (16 – 2 over SCW and 8 – 0 over Lutheran) to win their pool. The Panthers then played the other pool winner, Fort Zumwalt East, on Saturday in the tournament championship game. It was the second match-up between the two schools this season. East had previously defeated the Panthers 3 – 0. On Saturday, the game turned out to be a pitching duel. McKenna Dydell posted the victory for the Panthers after giving up just one run in six innings. Kelly Allensworth pitched a shut-out in the final inning to earn the save.

The low scoring contest in the final, a 2 – 1 score, was somewhat of a surprise for a team that has been known for their strong bats most of the season. Currently the Panthers have 8 players with .300 or better averages, including Jenna Christoff who leads the team with an impressive .524 average. Christoff, Allensworth along with Kate Neumann, Ashleigh Niemczyk and Mikalay Sizemore have provided strong senior leadership to which Coach Steve Siebert credited to the Panthers strong start this season.

This week the Panthers play a pair of games with conference foe Liberty, as well as a third game with Fort Zumwalt East, before hosting their own tournament on Friday and Saturday. The 8 team tournament field includes: FZN, FZE, Timberland, St. Dominic, Wright City, St. Charles and Union.