With the toughest part of their schedule approaching, the Wayne High softball team won two of three games to improve to 9-4-1.

In a 9-8 win over Verden on Aug. 24, Maddie Moreno hit a home run and a double and drove in five runs for the Lady Bulldogs, who took a 7-0 lead then held on for the win.

Natalie Knobloch pitched a complete game with eight strikeouts.

Only four of Verden’s eight runs were earned.

“It was a dog fight to win that game,” coach Megan Moreno told The Register. “They are a good team, and it came down to the last few innings for us.”

Verden scored four times in the third inning and twice more in the fourth to pull to within 7-6. But Wayne pushed across two runs in the sixth inning to extend the lead to 9-6.

Back-to-back singles by Taelyn Ringwald and Cylie Jones got the Bulldogs going.

Moreno doubled to score Ringwald and Moreno eventually scored the second run of the inning on a passed ball.

Verden answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning, but Knobloch pitched a scoreless seventh to get the win.

“We just had to hold them in the last inning,” Moreno said. “Nat was able to induce a pop fly and get two strikeouts to end it.”

Verden had won six of eight games before facing Wayne, which had a far easier time with Butner on Aug. 27.

The Lady Bulldogs overpowered the winless Eagles 14-1 in a game that was called after three innings.

Audra Watts had two hits, including a triple, and drove in three runs while Maddie Moreno homered and doubled for the second straight game. which knocked in a pair of runs.

Claire Mann added a double and two RBIs.

Knobloch, Ringwald and Addison Clagg added two hits apiece, and Clagg struck out seven batters in three innings of work.

Macomb tournament

A 7-5 loss to Cameron at the Macomb Tournament in Shawnee on Aug. 27 is one coach Moreno would like to have back.

Cameron jumped out to a 5-0 lead before Wayne came to life in the third inning with four runs to make it a game.

The highlight of the inning was a two-run single by sophomore Hannah Curtis to make it 5-4.

“We started off terrible,” Megan Moreno said. “They had a great defense, and we couldn’t find any holes. We finally started fighting back in the third inning with some timely hitting.”

The Lady Bulldogs tied it in the fourth with two outs when Knobloch hit a two-out triple and scored on a single by Maddie Moreno.

Cameron, though, took advantage of a fielding error to score twice off Knobloch in its final at-bat, then held Wayne scoreless to pull out the win.

“We have a tough schedule coming up with a lot of festivals and tournaments against some tough teams,” Moreno said. “We have to start bringing our A game every time we step on the field. We still haven’t played our best as a team yet, but we are building trust to get there.”