How the script can flip in just a 24-hour span. After having county rival Crawfordsville down to their final out last night just to see CHS come from behind to win 7-5 in extra innings, North Montgomery softball made the trip to Crawfordsville looking to for a county and Sagamore Conference split.
From the opening pitch things started to go south for the Chargers who started freshman pitcher Sienna Coleman. Coleman opened the game with four straight walks (one intentional) and didn’t record an out and gave up four runs before the Chargers sent in freshman ace Piper Ramey to limit the damage. After an inning CHS was leading 5-0 and 8-2 heading into the fifth inning.
That’s when the Charger offense found its rhythm and in a big way as they would score eight runs to take a 10-8 lead. CHS responded with 2 of their own to even up the game at 10-10, but North Montgomery had one final run in them adding three more runs to seal what would be a 13-10 come from behind win over their county rival.
“We had a lot of girls, especially near the bottom of our lineup who produced in a big way for us,” Charger coach Rob Earley said. “This is the best game that that group of girls has put together.”
One of those girls was freshman Blair Nichols who went 4-5 on the night and scored four funs from the eight spot in the order. Jaymie Freeman produced a pair of hits form the seven spot in the lineup and Cascie Keller and Breanna Dulin also picked up a single hit for the Chargers.
Piper Ramey continues to gain the respect of fellow opponents as the Athenians attempted to avoid her whenever possible as Ramey was intentionally walked three times in the game. However in the biggest spot of the night with the bases loaded and as CHS had no where to put her, the freshman delivered a huge one out bases clearing double which tied the game at 8-8. On the mound Ramey would pick up the win going the distance throwing all seven innings while giving up just five hits and four earned runs while striking out 15 Athenian hitters.
“It definitely wasn’t the plan to have her throw tonight, but she’s our workhorse,” Earley said of Ramey. “She’s thrown around 400 pitches the last three nights for us but she loves the moment and would never tell me if she’s too tired or not. They also took a couple of at-bats away from her but she came through big when we needed her too at the plate.”
Crawfordsville (1-19, 1-10 SAC) coach Brad Clark did nothing but tip his cap to the Chargers (4-14 2-9) for their timely and relentless hitting at the plate.
“They had some timely hits and got those because they were able to put the ball in play,” Clark said. “That’s what they needed to and last night that was us so tonight is what just kind of a reversal of fortunes.”
Brooklyn Mills led the way for CHS with three hits in the loss while Olivia Reed, Christen Saunders, Laine Schlicher, Jessica Tribble and Crane all had a single hit.
CHS will be back in action on Friday night when they host Seeger while the Chargers will host Fountain Central also on Friday.
