Abby Davis of North Union makes contact at the plate during a softball game against Galion on a rainy Tuesday. The Lady Cats struggled during the early frames of the game, but found runs late to win 12-1.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
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On the heels of 27-0 victory over Marion Harding on Monday, the Lady Cats of North Union tallied their 13th victory of season with a 12-1 win over Mid Ohio Athletic Conference rival Galion on Tuesday.
Despite the one-sided victory, the Lady Cats struggled during the opening frame to find their game in the dark, wet conditions.
Galion was able to expose a Lady Cat vulnerability by bunting its way to a bases- loaded situation after several missed throws to first base.
When the cleanup hitter took the plate for Galion, she followed suit with another bunt that advanced a runner home. She also reached safely due to the Lady Cats’ fourth error of the game.
“Yeah, we weren’t mentally ready for the game,” said NU coach Dawn Draper. “Unfortunately when you play a 27-0 game the day before, it is like a roller coaster of the mind. We just weren’t ready.”
After a visit to the field by Draper, the Lady Cats were able to recover, starting with a strikeout by North Union pitcher Madison Wedding.
Catcher Maddison Ruhl was able to snare a Galion runner a little too far from third base when she threw down to Avery Clark for the second out .
Wedding got out of trouble with only a 1-0 deficit when she notched her second strikeout of the inning.
“That was a big gut check and we came out of the first with only giving up one run on four errors,” said Draper. “That is not bad. Maddi (Ruhl) had a nice defensive play down at third and that really helped.”
North Union responded to the early deficit with its own bunting game.
Abby Davis laid down a bunt to reach safely and Madison Amstutz followed suit to put runners at first and second.
Clark reached first the hard way after taking a pitch off the hip to juice the sacks.
Ruhl followed with what was supposed to be a sacrifice bunt to plate Davis. However, it ended as a bunt-single that tied the game at 1-1.
The Lady Tigers notched the last two outs of the inning with a pop fly and strikeout.
NU’s defense recovered from its earlier woes with the help of Wedding’s solid pitching.
She earned her third and fourth strikeouts of the game and got out of the second inning unscathed.
The Lady Cats went back to work at the plate as lead-off batter Wedding, reached first on an error.
Draper took the opportunity to move the runner to second with a sac-bunt by Kori Marvin,.
Josie Duncan sent a ball back at the pitcher. It found its way to the outfield to score Wedding and give the Cats a 2-1 lead.
The game then took a pitcher’s turn as neither the Lady Cats nor Galion were able to find hits. As such, NU took a 2-1 lead into the fourth.
“Galion is a good team and they have proven that,” Draper said. “They have beaten a lot of teams in our league.
“They are contenders and we knew that, which is why I was upset about the four errors right of the bat.”
With the weather worsening Galion’s pitcher started to experience control problems.
She walked four NU batters to put the score at 3-1 and loaded the bases for Clark.
The Lady Cat senior took the opportunity to open up the game with a hit over the center-field fence to clear the bags and give the Lady Cats an 8-1 lead.
Galion had no answer at the plate in the top of the fifth.
The Lady Cats only needed three runs to end the game early.
They were able to do so when Kennedy Ruhl strode to the plate with two runners on board.
Ruhl worked the count deep, but found a pitch to her liking. She blasted it over the fence for a walk-off home run to end the game in five innings.
The victory increase the Lady Cats record to 13-1. North Union will return to the diamond today at Galion.
Galion 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 2
N. Union 1 1 0 6 4 12 11 4
WP: Wedding, 5 IP
LP: Thomas, 3 1/3 IP