VEEDERSBURG — Fountain Central softball’s offense is deep and talented. After winning 9-3 against Southmont last Thursday, the Mustangs welcomed another Montgomery County rival in the Crawfordsville Athenians to Veedersburg. FC ended the night showcasing their offensive talent once again and came away with a 22-6 over CHS as the Mustangs improved to 8-6 on the season while Crawfordsville fell to 0-9.
Both teams are currently battling a little adversity as Crawfordsville currently has just nine available players due to injury. Add in that six of those nine players are freshman and it’s been a rough stretch for the Athenians.
For the Mustangs in last Thursday’s game to Southmont, needing just one out to secure the win, star senior Kacey Kirkpatrick ended up breaking her foot and is out for the season. Kirkpatrick already had eight home runs and 31 RBI’s.
Without Kirkpatrick who is also their No. 1 in the circle, the Mustangs turned to sophomore Lilly Bennett. Backed by a stellar 22-run, 18-hit performance the sophomore was able to get the win. A big part of that offense was from senior Zoe Dejournett as the senior had herself a two home run game including a grand slam in the bottom of the third to finish the game 4-5 with seven RBI’s. Katie Brown had a two-run homer of her own and had three RBI’s. Oliviah Jones went 3-4 with four RBI’s in the win.
“Our hitting showed last year and it’s coming through for us again this year,” Mustang coach Ric Walke said. “The way we’re hitting the ball, it allows us to make some mistakes on defense but tonight we didn’t have any. Lilly pitched well and now with her being our No. 1 we’re going to need that from her and from our defense to make plays behind her. It was great too to get Oliviah Jones an inning and see what she could do at the varsity level in the circle. We were able to even get Erin Volk who’s a junior and been supporting the team the last few years, she got a big double and you could see the smile on her face and everyone in the dugout was excited for her.”
While Crawfordsville is still in search of their first win of the season, there were bright spots for CHS. The six runs tie a season-high while their seven hits are a season-high. For second-year coach Mackenzi Landrum, it’s all about taking away positives from each game and the offense certainly was one.
“We came ready to hit the ball and I’m proud of the girls for that,” Landrum said of her offense. “We stayed disciplined in the box and found pitches that we could drive and brought runners in. That’s one thing we’ve really harped on is being able to drive runners in when we get them in scoring position.”
Delaney Spencer, who got the start on the mound, also went 2-3 with an RBI. Molly Pierce and Angeli Martinez both doubled and Sabella Moore tripled. Addison James and Sidalee Cotton both singled for CHS in the loss. Landrum did note how difficult the team’s current situation is with only having nine available players.
“Girls have been forced to step up with what we’re dealing with,” she said. “I love that these nine girls are embracing the roles that they’ve been put in. That’s something we’ve talked about since the beginning of the season. They know their roles could change and we’ve seen that already. We just ask that they show up and give us their best effort.”
In four innings of work for the Mustangs, Bennett gave up six hits and five runs (four earned) while striking out four and walking none. While Crawfordsville was able to score two runs in the second and third innings, the FC sophomore didn’t look phased and went to focus on the next batter.
“We’ve told her that her offense is going to be there to score her some runs,” Walke said of Bennett. “She’s a competitor out there and sometimes she can look very stoic while she’s out there. As long as our defense continues to help her we’re going to be just fine with her on the mound.”
Both teams will quickly be back in action on Tuesday as the Mustangs are back at home to take on the Covington Trojans in WRC action while Crawfordsville welcomes county rival Southmont in a county and Sagamore Conference showdown.
