FRUITPORT – The Reeths-Puffer softball team is yet to lose a game this season, and with the way the Rockets have been hitting, it’s easy to see why.

The Rockets visited Fruitport on Thursday and pounded their way to convincing 16-5 and 17-0 victories over the Trojans in non-conference action.

The Game 1 victory came after Fruitport jumped out to a four-run lead, but was unable to stop the Rockets from rolling once their bats woke up.

The two biggest hits of the night came in Game 2, when Abbie Critchett blasted a two-run home run and Kaylee Jones added a three-run inside-the-park homer.

“This is a team that can go places,” said Reeths-Puffer Coach Sarah Ferenz, whose team improved to 5-0. “I think that we have a really great group of girls who are going to pick each other up, which is a big deal.

R-P’s Kaylee Jones, who had a three-run, inside-the-park home run. 

“Our girls did a great job making adjustments at the plate tonight. They were able to take what the coaches were saying and make the adjustment to put the ball in holes and push runs across. It didn’t take multiple innings to get there, they adjusted right away.”

As exciting as the start of the year has been for the Rockets, it’s been equally frustrating for Fruitport, which started the season with a victory over Montague, followed by two close conference losses to Allendale and the two losses on Thursday.

“We just made mental errors,” said Fruitport head coach Bob Dorman, whose team made its share of costly mistakes in the field. “It just hurt us so bad. We have to just get them to play for five hours with mental focus.”

The first game started out hopeful for the Trojans, who jumped out to a 5-1 first-inning lead with a two-run single from Brooklynn Russell, an RBI sacrifice fly by Olive Staal and several runs scoring on R-P errors.

Then the Reeths-Puffer bats clicked in and completely changed the game.

Fruitport’s Maddie Kohkle delivers a pitch. Photo/Andrew Johnson

Kyleigh Bilek had a two-run single in the fourth inning, when the Rockets scored three runs to cut the deficit to 5-4.

A slew of Trojan errors in the fifth inning helped Reeths-Puffer score six runs and take a 10-5 lead.

A two-run hit by Kyleigh Bilek and a run-scoring hit by Jersi Bilek, combined with a few more errors, helped the Rockets add six runs in the sixth inning.

Kyleigh Bilek finished with three hits. Mady Snyder pitched the win, scattering four hits with two strikeouts and one walk.

There was never any doubt in Game 2, when the Rockets opened the scoring with seven runs in the second inning.

R-P first baseman Kyleigh Bilek gets ready for a pitch while a Fruitport runner takes a lead behind her. Photo/Andrew Johnson

Critchett blasted a two-run home run, Kyleigh Bilek, Mady Snyder and Lainey McDaniel had RBI doubles, and Kaylee Jones and Jersi Bilek each added RBI singles.

R-P tacked on 10 more runs in a huge fifth inning. Megan Barmes had three RBIs on two singles, Kyleigh Bilek had an RBI single, Snyder added an RBI double and Natalie Kunnen knocked in a run with a single.

The biggest blast came from Jones with her three-run inside-the-park homer.

“It felt amazing once it left my bat,” Jones said. “It felt really good. When I was rounding first, I saw the ball was back at the fence and just kept running as fast as I could.”

Synder finished with three doubles for the Rockets. McDaniel, a freshman, pitched five innings while allowing one hit and striking out four batters to collect the win in her first varsity start.

“It feels really good,” Coach Ferenz said about her team’s effort. “I knew I had a good team, but they’ve gone above and beyond. We came out and started a little flat, but we made quick adjustments and rolled it the rest of the night, which was awesome.”