Crawfordsville softball has improved leaps and bounds since their first game of the season. With the final week of the regular season beginning on Monday, the Athenians hosted Sagamore Conference foe Frankfort and go the chance to honor their seniors. Cville made sure their senior class was sent out on a high note in their final home game as the Athenians ran away with a 13-3 win over the Hot Dogs in five innings.
Cville trailed 2-1 entering the bottom of the fourth but scored six runs in both the fourth and fifth and Lily Bridgham ended the game by scoring the 13th run on a passed ball.
“I think we’re really starting to see us come together as a team these last few games,” first-year Athenian coach Mackenzi Landrum said. “We’ve preached all year that we’re more than individuals and that we have to sacrifice the me and the I for what’s best for the entire group. We’ve had a lot of great teams games here of late even if they aren’t resulting in wins, we’re still competing well as a team and getting better. Tonight was just the icing on the cake for all of that.”
The four seniors that were honored before the game for the Athenians were Brooklyn Mills, Halle Elliott, Jessica Tribble, and Bailey Crane. It’s fitting that those four seniors combined for eight of Crawfordsville’s 11 hits, and drove in 10 of their 13 runs. Elliott led the way with a 3-4 night at the plate with two RBI’s. Both Crane and Mills had two hits and drove in three runs each. Tribble drove in a pair herself while collecting one hit. Molly Pierce and Christina Susdorf along with Bridgham all added a hit each in the Athenian win.
“These four girls have bought in from day one this season,” Landrum said of her four seniors that she’s been able to rely on in her first season. “They’ve left a legacy with Crawfordsville Softball and also left the program better than they found it. It always hasn’t been easy for them in their careers but they’ve committed themselves to this program and to this team.”
On the mound for the Athenians freshman Molly Pierce allowed just single hit and just a single earned run. She struck out seven Hot Dogs and walked five.
The win for Crawfordsville is their third of the season as they improve to 3-20 (2-10 SAC) with the win. Frankfort falls to 0-16 (0-11 SAC) with the loss.
These two teams will meet up again on Tuesday when the Athenians make the lengthy trek to Frankfort before concluding the regular season on Friday with a trip to Lebanon. First pitch is slated for 5:30 against the Hot Dogs on Tuesday.
“We have to ready from the get go to compete and we’ve done that as of late,” Landrum said. “It’ll take all of us working together as a team.”
