Each year the softball season starts quickly with a number of games right away. For the Southern Valley/Alma Saints, they had four games last week to things started in the 2023 campaign. They were able to nab a victory in one of the games but fell in the other two.
The Saints started with a matchup at home, versus Chadron on Friday evening. The Saints could not keep up with the high-powered offense of Chadron as they lost 17-5. According to MaxPreps, the game took just three innings to complete due to the run rule.
Southern Valley/Alma then had a quick turnaround as they went to the Lexington Invite on Saturday. First, they played the Highway 6 Trailblazers (Minden, Holdrege, Adams Central) and won 8-7 to move into the winner's side of the bracket.
Following that game, the Saints battled against a solid Scottsbluff team and lost 10-7. Southern Valley was up 3-0 after the top half of the inning as they found offense early on, but in the home half of the First Scottsbluff scored four runs of their own. From there they did not look back.
In the 3rd and 4th place game, Southern Valley/Alma played Alliance and fell in the game 7-0. They were unable to find much of anything on the offensive side during that matchup.
The Saints are 1-3 to start the season and will be in action again this week with games in McCook on Monday, and then host their own triangular on Friday, and go to the Holdrege Invite on Saturday.