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Third-inning rally lifts Miners over Wolverines
The Linton-Stockton Lady Miners pieced together some timely hits and took advantage of a few White River Valley miscues in the field.
A two-out rally in the third inning produced four runs, breaking a scoreless tie. And the big inning proved to be the difference in an otherwise tightly contested game. The Lady Miners went on to post an 8-1 victory over the Lady Wolverines in Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference softball action Thursday at Linton.
“Overall I thought it was great,” L-S coach Ruan Fougerousse said. “I really loved our team effort.
“We struggled yesterday (in a 9-2 loss at North Daviess). So I was happy with the way we rebounded both on the offensive end and the defensive end.”
The deuces were wild for Linton in the home half of the third. With two outs, two errors, two walks and two hits led to a 4-0 lead.
Maggie Booe reached on an error and Hannah Frady and Sierra Flater drew walks. Peyton Bland lined a sharply-hit single to left plating Booe and Frady. The ball got past the left fielder, Flater advancing to third and Bland ending up at second. Erica Barker drilled a base hit to center and courtesy runners Aubrey Ewers and Mercedes Eggers came around to score.
“Erica’s hit was key because it gave us that over-the-edge lead,” Fougerousse commented. “We just relaxed then and it’s so much easier when your pitchers and hitters are relaxed.”
WRV answered with a run in the fifth. Lacey Walker bunted her way on and Samantha Axe singled Walker to third. The Lady Wolverines then pulled off a double steal with Walker racing home on the successful attempt.
But that would be all White River Valley (5-7, 0-2 SWIAC) would get.
It could have been more. Lady Miner third sacker Brantli Lannan snagged hard-hit balls off the bats of Lacey Fisher and Audrey Richard at the hot corner. Lannan turned the latter into a 5-4 double play to end the inning.
Still though, WRV dugout boss Brock Hostetter was pleased overall.
“I thought a lot of good things happened tonight,” he said. “I thought we played pretty well. We hit the ball fairly decently. We just didn’t execute when we had runners in scoring position.”
Maggie Booe padded the Lady Miners cushion leading off the fifth with a solo shot to left field.
Linton-Stockton (6-4, 2-1) tallied three more in the sixth frame on just one hit. Ashlyn Ferree reached on an error and Aubrey Walton followed with a base hit. A dropped popup and an ensuing wild throw allowed three runs to cross the plate.
“I just want to see improvement every game,” said Hostetter. “And I feel like we’ve done that so far. Whether we win or lose if our girls are improving I’m happy at the end of the day.”
Another SWIAC foe awaits the Lady Miners Friday. Linton-Stockton travels to North Central for a make-up game originally scheduled for April 4. The Lady Miners will be back in action Saturday at the Vincennes Lincoln tournament.
White River Valley is idle until Tuesday, May 1 when the Lady Wolverines host North Knox.
White River Valley 000 010 0 – 1 5 6
Linton-Stockton 004 013 x – 8 6 1
WHITE RIVER VALLEY (5-7, 0-2) – Kassi Morrison (L) and Katie Eddy. Top hitters: Morrison 1-1, Samantha Axe 1-2.
LINTON-STOCKTON (6-4, 2-1) – Ashlyn Ferree (W), Peyton Bland (6) and Sierra Flater, Aubrey Walton (6). Top hitters: Maggie Booe 2-4; Erica Barker 2-3, 2 RBI. HR: Booe. S: Brantli Lannan.
