North Union’s Zoe Wedding puts the ball in play against Bellefontaine. The Lady Cats fell to the Chieftains on Friday and then split a twinbill on Saturday against Cardington.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Aleksei Pavloff)
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During this past week, the North Union softball team was searching for a way to get a victory.
The Lady Cats were able to get that win during the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday against Cardington at North Union.
After losing the opener 5-0 to the Lady Pirates, who are the second seed in the Central District Division III tournament, North Union bounced back with an 8-2 win in the nightcap.
The win ended a four-game losing skid for the Lady Cats, who are 10-12 on the season.
“It was more of a confidence thing,” NU head coach Pat Grove said. “We needed this. Lately we have not been able to put the three phases – hitting, pitching and defense – together.”
Junior Kennedy Harrah said the challenge for the Lady Cats was staying within themselves.
“We want to do the things you can control, keeping up the energy and communication,” Harrah said.
“We were trying to work through it, increase the energy and stay aggressive,” senior Zoe Wedding said.
Grove was happy with how his team started the second game against Cardington pitcher Genevieve Langsdorf.
Langsdorf limited North Union to just two hits in the opening game and was back in the pitching circle for the second contest.
Langsdorf, however, lasted just two innings, giving up three runs and four hits.
“We needed something positive to happen and it was a great sign with the way we started the second game,” Grove said.
Wedding got things going in the first inning with a one-out single. She then scored on a double by Harrah.
Harrah was able to cross the plate on a double from Ryleigh Rasey.
Emma Padovano was hit by a pitch to open the second inning.
She advanced on a bunt single by Emma McElroy and scored on a Pirate error.
Cardington (14-3) plated single runs in the second and fifth innings.
North Union put the game away with a five-run sixth inning.
Reese DeCamp, Harrah, Kailin McElroy and Wedding each had run-scoring hits for the Lady Cats.
Brenna Martino was the starting pitching, hurling the first five innings to get the victory.
DeCamp pitched the final two frames to earn the save.
They combined to give up seven hits and had four strikeouts. Neither allowed a walk.
Kailin McElroy had the lone two hits for North Union in the first game, both singles.
DeCamp battled Langsdorf inning for inning through the first six frames of the initial contest.
Cardington scored a run in the fifth before plating four runs in the seventh.
First game
C’ton 000 010 4—5-10-1
NU 000 000 0—0-2-1
Second game
C’ton 010 010 0—2-7-4
NU 210 005 x—8-12-0
In a game played on Friday, North Union lost 15-6 to Bellefontaine, which scored seven runs in the first two innings.
The Lady Cats tallied three runs in the second and three more in the third, but could not add to their run total.
Padovano led North Union with three hits, including a home run. Collecting two hits each were DeCamp, Emma McElroy and Kailin McElroy
B’taine 250 200 6—15-21-2
NU 033 000 0—6-11-0