Crawfordsville softball dug themselves too big of a hole in Monday’s 13-2 loss to Lafayette Central Catholic. The Knights scored in every inning to pull away from the Athenians.
Cville was without the services of it’s best defender and arguably their best hitter in freshman catcher Christina Susdorf and her presence was missed significantly as the Knights took advantage of some wild pitches from starter Olivia Hedrick and passed balls from Jessica Tribble who was thrust into the role.
In the first inning, it looked as if CHS would get out of it with allowing just a single run. However a pair of Athenian errors saw two more Knight’s runs score. CC (9-9) added three more in the second, one in the third, three in the fourth and two in the fifth.
Crawfordsville got on the board in the bottom of the second thanks to an RBI single off the bat of freshman Molly Pierce. Pierce then scored the second run in the fifth off a single from shortstop Celeste Moore.
“We came out flat and just didn’t seem focused from the get go,” first-year Athenian coach Mackenzi Landrum said. “We’ve talked about all season that we’re riding a roller coaster right now. It’s about trying to stay at the top of it for as long as you can and not continue to fall down.”
CHS was able to pick up its second win of the season on Saturday in a 13-3 road win at North Vermillion.
Cville (2-16) had four hits in the loss. Moore had a pair at the top of the Athenian batting order. Bailey Crane had a double while Pierce recorded the other Athenian hit. Landrum did still find positives in the loss.
“We were able to capitalize when we had runners on and runners in scoring position,” she said. “When given the opportunity everyone did their job that we asked of them at the plate. Lily (Bridgham) laid down a very nice sac bunt to get runners over. The girls have embraced those roles that we’ve put them in and they know that if they do their job, us as coaches will be satisfied.”
Olivia Hedrick got the loss on the mound for CHS. The freshman threw all five innings and gave up seven hits. Seven of her 13 runs were earned while she struck out one and walked four.
For the Knights, Lauren Johnson tallied a 3-3 night at the plate with three singles. Five other Knights got a hit with Julia Mazur, Kendal Rider, Clare Rausch, Sydney Renbeck, and Auna Silver each having one.
Crawfordsville will now get ready for two big Montgomery County and Sagamore Conference games as they’ll host the North Montgomery Chargers (7-13) on Tuesday before traveling to North Montgomery on Wednesday. Landrum knows that her team already has a county win (15-5 over Southmont) on their resume and would love to add more against the Chargers.
“It comes down to being ready to play and wanting it more than they do,” she said. “We want our girls to give everything they have no matter what game we play, but especially in county games. They should want to play hard for the girl next to them.”
First pitch from Crawfordsville is slated for a 5:30 start on Tuesday. You can hear the game live on WIMC Thunder 103.9 beginning around 5:10 as Jared McMurry and Eric Danforth will have the call.
