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Fast start lifts Lady Miners over Lady Cards
The Linton-Stockton Lady Miners jumped all over the Bloomfield Lady Cardinals right off the bat, so to speak.
The Lady Miners pounded out six hits in their first turn at the plate, pushing four runs across. Linton scored only once more, a single tally in the fifth frame.
But the four runs in the opening frame were enough. Bloomfield managed just a lone run in the sixth. And the early lead for the Lady Miners held up, 5-1 in Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference softball at Linton.
“We had chances,” Bloomfield’s first-year coach Aaron Morris said. “We just couldn’t get them across. We finally got one that next-to-last inning.
“We’re hitting the ball well. But we’re still watching too many called third strikes. I keep telling them, if they keep hitting it eventually it will find a hole.”
The Lady Miners found plenty of holes early. Maggie Booe lined a double into the gap in right center and Hannah Frady found a hole through the right side of the diamond, driving in Booe.
Peyton Bland drove a deep double over the center fielder’s head. Frady and Bland came home on ground balls in the infield. Aubrey Elliott drilled a two-bagger off the fence in center and Sierra Flater’s base hit plated Erica Barker with the fourth run.
But that was it for Linton, save for Bland’s sacrifice fly in the fifth.
Bloomfield’s freshman hurler Kenzie Morris settled down – and needed just three pitches to set the Lady Miners down in order in the second frame. The next inning was also three-up and three-down for Linton.
“I felt like after we had that good start we were all thinking of the fence,” Linton coach Ruan Fougerousse commented. “We were first-pitch swinging and we got away from what got us there that first inning.”
The Lady Cardinals threatened in each of the next four frames but were unable to push a run across.
Hayley England smashed a base hit up the middle and Morris followed with a single to right. But England was forced at third and the next batter popped up.
An error, a passed ball, a fielder’s choice and a stolen base gave the Cards runners at second and third with one out. But the next two hitters grounded out. Frady saved the inning with a strong throw to first after fielding Lexi Hash’s smash up the middle.
England smacked a double to lead off the fourth but was stranded at second.
Fougerousse said, “We’ve been pretty successful at keeping the scores low even against the good 4A teams we’ve been playing.”
And the same was true on this night.
Hash reached base on an error in the sixth. Three batters later, Hash’s courtesy runner Andrea Feutz came home on Sydney Query’s lined single over the first baseman.
Still, coach Morris is pleased with the progress he has seen from his young team. Four freshmen – Query, Kenzie Morris, Malea Ramsey and Autumn Smith – were in the starting lineup for the Lady Cards.
“We’re getting there,” the coach said. “It’s a young team. We made some errors tonight that aren’t typical of us. But we’re not a team to be taken lightly.”
Linton travels to Owen Valley Thursday and Bloomfield hosts Barr-Reeve Friday.
Bloomfield 000 001 0 – 1 6 2
Linton-Stockton 400 010 x – 5 10 3
BLOOMFIELD (0-2, 0-2) – Kenzie Morris and Hayley England. Top hitters: England 2-3, 2B; Sydney Query, 1-3, RBI.
LINTON-STOCKTON (2-2, 1-0) – Ashlyn Ferree, Hannah Frady (6) and Sierra Flater. Top hitters: Aubrey Elliott 2-3, Flater 2-3, RBI; Frady 2-4, RBI. 2B Maggie Booe, Peyton Bland, Elliott.
