BNL waxes Washington
Jeff Bartlett
WASHINGTON – With Washington winless in nine starts and Bedford North Lawrence unblemished in four, Tuesday’s softball tilt at glistening Gwaltney Sports Complex was a big-time mismatch on paper.
The Stars made sure it remained a mismatch on the field as they pounded 14 hits and rolled to a 15-2, five-inning triumph.
“I’m glad that they took care of business,” said BNL coach Mike Matlock. “This team will not play down. They’re pretty determined and they wouldn’t have much mercy on anybody. If anything they’d want to pour it on, so it would be up to me to show the mercy.
“I like that attitude for the most part, but we wouldn’t be bad sports about it. I am glad that they came out and played well.”
Thanks to the time change (Daviess County is on central, or “slow” time) and subsequent confusion by an umpire, the contest started 45 minutes late, but BNL quickly made up for lost time.
Brittany Simmerman drew a leadoff walk and stole second base. Jacey Gould swung and missed a third strike, but the ball got by the catcher, with Simmerman scoring all the way from second and Gould winding up on second. Jessica Raines rapped an infield roller, and Brooke Dorsett scored courtesy runner Libby Thompson with an RBI single to left.
The Stars really cranked it up in the second frame, sending 10 batters to the plate while erupting for six runs. Allie Deckard, Taylor Craig, Brandi Calentine, Raines and Dorsett all had hits, with Raines ripping a bases-clearing double into the left-field corner and
Dorstt following with an RBI triple to left-center to make it 80.
“I was impressed with how the girls were able to dial it down against this girl (Lindsey Gress),” Matlock said. “This is the first team I’ve had that’s been able to do that.
“We’d just faced two pretty hard throwers, and this girl was quite a bit slower, but the girls adjusted well and really scorched some of those shots. I was getting a little worried down there coaching third base.”
The outing wasn’t typical for junior right-hander Jessica Raines, who had to overcome a queasy stomach. She walked the bases full in the second, but got out of it unscathed thanks to a big strikeout. The Hatchets struck for a pair of runs in the third on hits by Sarah Deitz and Amber Criswell, and a two-run double by Michelle Hulsey.
Raines calmed down and went on to make her record 40.
“When Jessica started out she was throwing harder than I’ve ever seen her pitch,” Matlock noted. “I think maybe she was overthrowing after awhile and she lost her control just a little bit, but she’ll be fine.”
Matlock started substituting freely in the third inning, and
BNL came back with a run in the fourth on Kayla Webb’s ringing RBI double to deep left. They pushed it past the mercy rule range in the fifth by sending 10 more hitters up and scoring six more runs on five more hits. Gould, Raines, Whitney Allender and Jordan Yates all had RBIs in the big inning.
“One good thing about a game like this is that you get to work on a lot of things,” Matlock said. “We had some nice slap bunts and some good baserunning. The girls got to see how things actually work with some of the stuff we executed instead of just doing them in practice and wondering if they’ll work.”
Raines went 3 for 3 with four RBIs, Dorsett was 2 for 2 with two RBIs and Calentine added two hits to lead BNL’s assault.
The Stars (5-0) are slated to host Class 2A’s top-ranked North Daviess tonight at 6, weather permitting.
TimesMail Sports Writer Jeff Bartlett welcomes comments at 277-7285 or by email at jeffb@tmnews.com.