Lady Raiders able to execute on offense for conference lead

By DONN ADAMSON
Daily Journal Sports Editor

FARMINGTON — The North County Lady Raiders are known for their one-two punch of excellent pitching by Jennifer Hackworth and Katie Gibson. Hackworth did not disappoint fans with her one-hit shut-out of the Farmington Knightettes, but it was the execution of the offense which put together a 5-0 win to give the Lady Raiders a 5-0 record.

Brittany O’Connell led off the first, third and fourth innings with a hit, and in all three innings the next batter Erica Inman made successful sacrifice bunts to advance Inman another base. Inman scored in each of the innings with Hackworth driving her the first two times and Gibson the third time.

It would be all the runs Hackworth would need as she pitched to only one over the minimum (22) in a seven inning game, with a lot of help from catcher Jamie Bullock. Three Farmington players made it to first base, and Bullock threw out two of them trying to steal second.

Hackworth struck out seven batters and allowed only one ball to reach the outfield, a fly ball to right to end the game.

With two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning, Allie Trask laid down a bunt to try and get something started for the Knightettes, and the speedy shortstop beat out the throw to first.

Chelsea Thomure hit a grounder to third in the second inning, but the throw, which would have been in time, pulled the first baseman off the bag, and in the fifth inning Nikki Broccard used eight pitches to eventually draw the only walk off Hackworth, for Farmington’s only other baserunners.

The big hit of the game came from Hackworth in the third inning. After O’Connell and Inman did their thing, Gibson reached on a Farmington infield error, and Hackworth then drove the ball to the right centerfield fence for a two-RBI double. Hackworth also scored in the inning on a bases-loaded walk by Holly Gallagher.

The Knightettes were always in reach as good defensive play and pitching kept the Lady Raiders from breaking the game open. In the seventh inning after one out, North County had a string of one walk and three straight singles, but came up empty-handed as both Broccard in center and Katherine Sitzes in right fielded singles and threw out runners at the plate who were trying to score from second.

North County will be back in action on Thursday at Potosi, and Farmington (2-2) will travel to Fredericktown. 

North County  103 100 0 - 5  12  1

Farmington  000 000 0 - 0  1  2

Pitching: WP- Hackworth 7i 0r 1h 7k 1bb, LP- Littrell 7i 5r 12h 5k 1bb.

Hitting:

North County - Hackworth 3-3, O’Connell 3-4, Dennison 2-4, Shannon 2-4, Gibson 1-4, Bullock 1-4. 2b- Hackworth, O’Connell.

Farmington - Trask 1-3.



Central 3, Potosi 2

POTOSI — Melanie Cunningham gave up only three hits to post a 3-2 win for the Central Lady Rebels over the Potosi Lady Trojans in conference play. The Lady Rebels outhit their hosts with eight hits of their own.

Amber Kennedy was 2-3 with a triple and an RBI. Cunningham drove in the other two runs and Ashley Coplin was 2-4. Also getting one hit each for the Lady Rebels were Taylor Friend, Erin St. Gemme, Kiley Horton and Sabrina Tripp.

Paige Coleman had two of Potosi’s hits and Ashley Duncan also had a single. Jinnger Rogers took the loss for Potosi.

Central (2-2) will play next at home against Ste. Genevieve on Thursday, and Potosi (3-1) will host North County the same afternoon.

Fredericktown 6, Ste. Genevieve 5

FREDERICKTOWN — An overthrow at first base allowed a Fredericktown runner to score in the bottom of the eighth inning and the Lady Cats pulled off a six-run comeback to win their conference softball game over the Ste. Genevieve Hunters 6-5.

The Lady Cats trailed 5-0 going into the bottom of the fifth, but by the end of the sixth the game was knotted all up until the eighth when Nikki Mascaro hit a double and Chelsey McDowell hit a slap single which resulted in the overthrow at first.

Hailey Pate hit 4-4 for the Lady Cats, McDowell was 3-4 and Alyssa Allgier went 2-2. Mascaro struck out three batters and walked four for the win.

Fredericktown (2-3) will travel to De Soto this afternoon, and Ste. Genevieve (1-4) will travel to Park Hills on Thursday to play Central.