NEW MARKET — The good thing about the Monon Athletic Conference schedule for softball and the back-to-back games is that it gives coaches a quick glance at how their teams adapt.
While the result was similar to the night before, both Crawfordsville and Southmont coaches saw things they liked in the Mounties’ 14-0 win in five innings at Southmont.
“We made some adjustments at the plate (from Tuesday’s game) and put some more balls in play,” Crawfordsville head coach Mackenzi Landrum said. “That’s all we can ask for. Put it in play and make them play defense. Defensively we did all right. We made most of the outs that they gave us, but South hit a lot of balls away from us, and the wind was no help to us.”
On the other side of the diamond, Southmont coach Dan Taylor was not pleased with the way his team started the game Tuesday and wanted to see a little more intensity. He got that as the Mounties exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the first inning.
The Mounties took advantage of four walks and a single to chase Athenian starter Josslynn Simmons after just five batters. The Mounties greeted freshman Kareena Shuler with five more hits in the innings and got RBIs from Kenzi Douglas, Emily Simpson, MaKinzie Wood and Ella Barry.
After a scoreless second inning, the Mounties added four more runs in the third inning on a pair of home runs. The first was by Kaylee Turner and then two batters later Barry hit her seventh of the year which broke the school career record. She now has 15 in her career.
Southmont added a run in the fourth to close out the scoring.
On the mound, Barry started for the Mounties, allowed a hit, and struck out seven before giving way to Sammie Crosby who pitched two scoreless innings.
“We were not pleased with our start on Tuesday night, so we challenged them a little after the game to come out with a little more intensity today,” Taylor said. “I think they did that. I was pleased with the way they showed up ready to play. We got good production throughout the lineup, and we got great pitching from Ella and Sammie. This is more of what we want to see every game.”
Seven different Mounties collected hits, led by Barry’s three and Simpson’s two.
Crawfordsville picked up three hits as Laken Suitors, Addison Hauk and Christina Susdorf reached safely.
Landrum was also pleased with the pitching of Shuler.
“Kareena came in and did a nice job for in relief,” she said. She threw a lot of strikes and got us some outs.”
The victory clinched Southmont the county title, their 15th in a row.
Southmont moved to 10-2 and 6-2 in the MAC. Crawfordsville moves to 2-13 and 0-8. The Mounties will play host to state-ranked Riverton Parke on Friday, while Crawfordsville will play Friday at Parke Heritage.
