HEALDSBURG >> Freshman Allison Bryant came within two outs of pitching a no-hitter in her high school debut on Thursday afternoon as the Kelseyville Knights opened their season with a 16-0 non-league softball victory over the Healdsburg Greyhounds in Healdsburg.
Bryant lost her no-hitter with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning of the five-inning game on a clean single to left field.
“It was legitimate,” Kelseyville coach Jeff Bour said of the hit, which came long after the Knights (1-0) had put the game away.
“We stopped taking the extra base in the second inning. It was one base at a time,” Bour said of a seven-run second inning that gave the Knights a 10-0 lead.
Senior shortstop Riley Goff went 2-for-3 with a pair of two-run doubles to spark the Knights at the plate. Bib Hamner went 2-for-3 with three RBIs while Bailey Couey went 2-for-2 with a RBI.
“We did hit the ball pretty hard even when we didn’t get hits,” Bour said.
The Knights pounded out 10 hits in all in support of Bryant, who struck out four and walked only one.
“Holy smokes it’s nice to have some confidence in who is stepping up to the mound,” Bour said of Bryant.
Kelseyville’s roster is 18 players strong at present with only three seniors – team captains Goff, Maddie West (1-for-4, RBI, four runs) and Kailani Brown (1-for-3).
“I have confidence that 15 of them could start for me,” Bour said. “Everybody knows their role.”
Kelseyville hits the road again today to play Upper Lake (1-1) at 3:30 p.m. The Knights travel to Windsor on Tuesday for a 4 p.m. game with the Jaguars.
