And true to their philosophy, Wednesday night’s fifth-inning rally to help beat Northwestern 5-3 had a little bit of everything. It started with a pinch-hit single by senior Kerria Himes, a shot to right for her second hit in five at-bats this season.
“She did a great job. I just said you gotta do your job and she gave me a big smile. That’s great to have,” KR coach Sarah Schalnat said. “She goes up there and I think she’s just happy to be in. She has a great attitude and did her job.”
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The inning continued with a walk to sophomore Maci Runkle. Junior Jordan Rucker’s high fly to left danced around in the wind before glancing off the left-fielder’s glove for an error to load the bases. Fleming then singled to right to cut the Warriors’ lead to 3-2. After a ground out, KR senior Carly Turner stroked her fifth triple this season to center to clear the bases and give KR a 5-3 lead.
“I thought to myself I have to do this for my team. I couldn’t leave them on base like that,” Turner said.
Turner then sent the Warriors down in order the final two innings, not letting a ball out of the infield, to preserve the victory and keep the Cougars undefeated at 10-0 overall and 8-0 in the Central Buckeye Conference.
“She’s our leader for sure,” Fleming said. “She our energy and she gets us up when we’re down.”
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The game of Clark County pitching aces – KR’s Turner and Northwestern senior Jenna Robbins – was also a match-up of the CBC division leaders. KR entered atop the Kenton Trail Division and Northwestern (5-4, 4-1) led the Mad River Division.
Northwestern got to Turner for two runs in the second inning but managed three base runners the next five innings. Turner (10-0) allowed seven hits, hit a batter and struck out seven.
In the top of the second the Warriors put their first five hitters on base, mostly with well-placed infield bunts following junior Hannah Weymouth’s lead-off double. Freshman Cassidy Christian bunted her way on and moved Weymouth to third. Junior Miranda Gillman followed with a bunt to the right side of the infield and reached when KR’s first baseman didn’t get back to cover in time, scoring Weymouth for the 1-0 lead.
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Junior Kaylee Parrett’s bunt down the third base line left the Cougars with no play to load the bases. Senior Ashlee Barger singled over shortstop for the 2-0 lead. Turner, facing the top of the Warriors’ order, responded with a pair of strikeouts and a ground out to escape.
“(My defense has) gotten me out of some tough situations just like they did tonight,” Turner said. “I can’t thank them enough.”
Fleming grabbed three pop-ups in the first two innings, including two in foul territory.
“Peyton has done a great job behind the plate,” Schalnat said. “When the ball goes up in the air I expect her to catch it. I’m a little disappointed when she doesn’t catch it. She had a great game.”
Turner and sophomore Jade Espinosa hit back-to-back, one-out doubles in the fourth inning for KR’s first run. Northwestern added another run in the top of the fifth for the 3-1 lead when senior Macie Crew was hit by a pitch and junior Bry White’s fly to left carried in the wind and resulted in an error.
Robbins (4-4) allowed seven hits, walked two and struck out six.
“She’s a great pitcher. She’s got speed, movement,” Fleming said. “I’ve been playing against her for a long time and it doesn’t get any easier.”
Three of Northwestern’s four losses came to teams from Illinois and Wisconsin to start the season. And in their first in-state loss coach Missy Johnson said the theme remained the same.
“That’s been the story of our season. With our losses our defense falls apart,” Johnson said. We gotta figure it out in order to win. … We lost three solid seniors from last year and we haven’t been able to fill their spots yet. It’s still early. We have a lot of games next week and hopefully we can put things together.”
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