Lady Pioneers make contact, but can’t connect with a win
After being limited to just one hit in two of their last three games, the Lady Pioneer softball team had a big challenge ahead of them on Wednesday night as they faced the No.1-ranked team in the state, Riverdale.
The Lady Warriors entered Wednesday nights’ contest with a 7-0 District 7-AAA record. as the Lady Pioneers have yet to pick up a district win.
Riverdale downed Warren County in seven innings 9-0, but the Lady Pioneers won a moral victory, picking up five hits in the game. Warren County dropped to 0-8 in district play and 2-22 on the season, while Riverdale improved to 8-0 and 29-4 in the year.
Riverdale did its damage in the first two innings. In the top of the first, Angelica Wade singled and then moved to second on an error. A.K. Moore followed with a double and singles by Jackie West and Kaneaka Lyons put the Lady Warriors out in front 3-0. Lady Pioneer third baseman Shellie Hayes led off the bottom of the inning with a single to left, but the next three Lady Pioneers went down in order.
Kelsey Woodruff started things off for Riverdale in the top of the second with an infield hit, followed by hits from Wade, J.P. Edwards, West and Jessica Whitens to put the Lady Warriors on top 6-0. Laurie Hillis singled to lead off the bottom of the second and with two out Ashlee Malone singled to right-center. Riverdale pitcher Darci Gilbert got the next batter to pop up to get out of the inning.
Riverdale added one run in the third with singles from Kelsey Woodruff and Wade, but the Lady Pioneers turned the double play to get out of the inning with no further damage. Falon Catalano came on to pitch in the bottom of the third striking out the first two Lady Pioneer batters. MaCall Cooper singled but Catalano fanned the next batter to keep Warren County off the scoreboard.
Both teams went down in order in the fourth. Riverdale put two runners on in the top of the fifth, but Warren County’s defense held its ground to get out of the inning. Nikki Poe singled with one out for Warren County, but once again Riverdale got out of the inning.
Riverdale scored one run off of three hit including a double by Catalano. But Hayes took a line-drive at third and turned it into a double play as the next batter popped up to end the inning. Warren County went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning.
The Lady Warriors scored one run in the seventh with a single from Whitens and a triple by Wade before Warren County got out of the inning. The Lady Pioneers went down swinging in the bottom of the inning as the Warriors picked up the district win.
Ashley McBee worked seven innings for the Lady Pioneers, giving up nine runs on 16 hit, with one walk and three K’s. Gilbert worked two innings giving up three hit and picking up three strikeouts. Catalano worked five innings facing 26 batters with 13 strikeouts on 64 pitches.
On Tuesday Siegel held the Lady Pioneers to just one hit as the Lady Stars blanked Warren County 5-0. Cooper came up with Warren County’s only hit as McBee worked from the mound giving up 12 hits, while facing 33 batters.
Warren County was scheduled to take on White County on Thursday and will be on the road against Coffee County on Monday.