VEEDERSBURG - The softball game between Fountain Central and Central Catholic had the air of a chess match as much as stick and ball in a Knights 13-9 win.
The reason being that these two teams could easily meet next Tuesday in the second round of the sectional tournament.
Both teams wanted to show the other squad they were/are ready for the possible rematch. Both coaches didn’t want to tip their hands too much.
In the end, the Knights picked up the win to move to 11-12 on the season with a couple games left before they face Attica next Monday in the first round of the 1A playoffs.
They got solid pitching, got some timely hits and took advantage of situations to post the win.
The Mustangs, who finish their regular season, are 11-12 and have five days to rest and get ready.
“We are going to use those five days,” FC coach Ric Walke said. “We have some girls banged up and we need the time off.”
The Mustangs had their regular heroes perform well as they finish with the most wins by an FC softball team since 2012.
Zoe DeJournett hit a leadoff home run, her fourth leadoff dinger of the year and third in a week. She finishes the season with eight over the fence.
Kacey Kirkpatrick also had a home run – her seventh of season.
In addition, Kirkpatrick struck out 10 in seven innings of work on the mound, giving her a school record 147 for the season.
“Kirkpatrick struck out a school-record 19 last week,” Walke said of his ace. “Her 147 for the season is a new record. Our 20 total home runs, by six different hitters, is a record. We had 99 steals – a new record. Zoe DeJournett had 37 stolen bases – a new record. Kacey already has the career record for RBI as a junior and for doubles.”
And there was not a senior to introduce before the last home game.
“I just have to give another shoutout to Sami Krout.” Walke said. “She had a handful of at-bats last season and spent the offseason working her tail off in the cage and in the field. She has a .421 average. I can’t say how proud I am of her and her accomplishments.”
The Knights put down a plethora of bunts as they scored in six different innings.
“That was an emphasis for us tonight,” CC coach Natalie Stevens said. “We haven’t bunted all that well. We have good team speed and wanted to exploit that tonight. We put the ball in play and when you do that, good things can happen. We got a great night defensively from Kendal Rider. I want every ball hit to her.”
Rider started a back-breaking double play in the fifth with simply a spectacular grab of a line drive out into short left field. With the catch, she doubled off an FC runner at second, and instead of scoring the third run of the at-bat and really grabbing some momentum, both teams had a changing moment.
“It was the play of the game,” Walke said. “We get that third run, we would have been down only one with two one and one out. It pumped them and dropped us.”
The Knights got five runs in the fifth inning, their best of the game. They used 14 hits and several wll-placed bunts to move runners or score runners.
The Mustangs scored in four innings, highlighted by a four-run third that saw CC commit five errors.
Zoe DeJournett was only a single from the cycle, as she homered in the first, doubled in the third and tripled in the sixth. She had two RBI. Kirkpatrick finished with runs batted in, two on her dinger.
“Zoe raises us up to a higher level everywhere,” Walke said of his shortstop and leadoff hitter. “She and Kearney moved in this year and meshed immediately with the team. We started four freshmen and a sophomore, and there have been some growing pains, but these freshmen have stepped up. We have had some great comebacks and some comebacks fall short, but these players are always ready to compete. The parents have been so incredibly supportive and we know that we hope to have all these girls, and a couple more from the eighth grade, be ready to lead us next season. We have work to do yet, and a goal to win the sectional next week. “We are not scared of CC. We know that if we cover the bunt better and take care of some game situations, we can get them. We feel we can score some runs, and we just need to help Kacey.”
Jackie Weber had a pair of hits and two runs scored for the Mustangs, who had 11 hits overall.
The Mustangs await the winner of the CC game against Attica next Monday at the sectional tournament at Riverton Parke. Should Attica beat CC, the Mustangs won both regular-season games.
