Russiaville — When Western’s softball game with Marion got off to a bad start, the Panthers didn’t flinch. They understood a stray run here or there wasn’t any reason to panic and make things worse.
After giving up a run on three hits to start the game, Western dusted itself off. A couple innings later, the Panthers were the ones kicking up dust as they rounded the bags repeatedly in a six-run inning. That was enough for a 6-1 victory over the visiting Giants.
Katie Daine (2-0) pitched the opening four innings for the victory and Brooke Pingleton was perfect over the last three for a save.
“They got a couple hits that fell, that’s going to happen,” Western coach Jim Clouse said of Marion’s first inning. “I thought we did a really good job of damage control that first inning, holding it to one run. Katie beared down, got a couple outs there. We didn’t make any mistakes.
“After that, I thought we were pretty much in control. Katie really came through and pitched well. I thought she was better every inning actually. We just changed because we just got off of spring break and we wanted both pitchers to get some innings in before next week. Brooke came in and really did a good job. She pretty much shut them down as well.”
After generating three hits in the opening inning, Marion got just one more base hit in the game and only one more Giant runner passed second base.
Meanwhile, Western (4-0) plotted its big inning. The Panthers stranded three runners in the first two innings then put a big number on the board against Marion starter Ari Reynolds in the bottom of the third. Aided by three errors, the Panthers turned three hits and two walks into a half-dozen runs to put themselves firmly in control.
Samantha Hemming started the party with a leadoff double. She scored three batters later when Daine fought a short single over the left side of the infield. Maeghan Grove and Ally Davenport each plated runs on sacrifice flies. Three more runs scored directly on errors.
“We hit the ball hard and if you hit the ball hard, good things happen whether they’re errors or hits,” Clouse said. “One of the keys to that inning was that we ran the bases very well that inning. We got two runs on a sacrifice fly [by] paying attention. We scored on a ball that kind of got away from the third baseman [with the runner scoring from] second base, so I kind of thought our alertness on the basepaths contributed to getting all those runs.”
Regular starter Bethany Harrell entered in the fourth to pitch out the remainder of the game for Marion (1-3).
“Western’s a good ball club,” said Marion coach Amy Miles, who has seven new starters this season. “They hit the ball well, they execute. Our girls are learning how to execute, learning how to make the tough play, and even how to make the routine play.”
Hemming finished with two hits and a walk for the Panthers. Bre Snyder drew two walks and singled. Western managed just five hits but put 15 runners on base in six innings as they drew five walks and had two batters hit.
Clouse was thrilled that his pitchers didn’t walk a batter and that the defense took care of business.
“Defensively, we didn’t commit an error. In four games, we’ve committed three errors, so very happy with the way we played defensively,” he said noting some good plays by freshman Morgan Grove at second base.
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