Cagney Stewart of North Union swings through a pitch that she hit over the fence for a home run in the fourth inning of Friday’s game against London. The Lady Cats toppled the Red Raiders 19-7 to win the Central Buckeye Conference Mad River Division. (Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
The North Union softball team hit the ball early and often to topple London 19-7 on Friday.
The victory secured the Central Buckeye Conference Mad River Division title for NU with one game yet to play.
The Lady Cats, who went into the contest with a 10-4 conference mark, found themselves holding onto a two-game lead over Benjamin Logan in the division.
With Friday’s win, the Lady Cats are now the outright champs of the division.
The victory also came on senior night for the Lady Cats, something that NU head coach Dawn Draper believes helped her Cats win with ease over the Red Raiders.
“The team saw absolute sadness at Indian Lake when we couldn’t put that game to rest for the seniors and win the CBC off that,” she said. “It brought a lot of emotions and they saw how much heart, soul, time and effort those seniors have made.
I think the team came out with a different mind set today.”
That mind set was felt on the first swing of the bat for NU.
Kayla Sedgwick only needed one pitch to drive the ball to the fence for a double. Regan Martino followed with a single before the Red Raiders could collect their first out against Kennady Ruhl.
Laine Sparks took the free pass to first to load the bags for Cagney Stewart.
She hit a sacrifice fly to plate the first run of the game.
Bailee Amstutz knocked in an RBI with a single and Jada Davis found a gap in the outfield to plate two runs and give the Lady Cats a 4-0 lead.
London responded in the top of the second inning.
Reese DeCamp, who sits at eighth in the league with seven wins and a 2.14 ERA, was on the rubber for the Lady Cats.
The Red Raiders found a groove against the sophomore pitcher and hung three runs on NU.
One of those runs came on an error.
Errors are something that has stuck with the Lady Cats this year.
“We are trying to work on things and iron some of those little things out that will help us out in the coming week,” said Draper . “We have to be able to play defense and trust ourselves.”
Despite the play in the field, NU stayed hot in the box.
DeCamp led off the bottom of the second inning with a double.
She eventually came around to score, thanks to a double by Sparks, which plated two runs.
North Union added two more runs in the inning to take an 8-3 lead.
The Lady Raiders answered with four runs of their own in the third inning to close within 8-7.
North Union plated three more runs in the third inning to move the score to 11-7. Draper called on Sparks to take over inside the circle to start the fourth inning.
The sophomore pitcher, who sports a 1.75 ERA in 32 innings pitched, held the Red Raiders in the top of the fourth inning to keep the four-run lead.
London followed suit and switched pitchers to try and calm the Lady Cats’ bats.
Despite the change, NU still found its hits.
Stewart blasted a two-run homer.
North Union tallied five total runs in the fourth inning to take a 16-7 lead.
Sparks returned to the circle in the fifth inning.
Despite some pressure by the Red Raiders, the NU hurler was able to keep the score where it was.
Draper said her relief pitcher threw well, but it was the offense that really allowed her pitchers to shine.
“Laine coming in again and did a great job in the circle,” she said. Also putting 20 hits on the board, any pitcher is going to love that.
“I’m proud of the kids.”
Needing only one run to end the game early, Candace Holloway led off the fifth inning with a single.
DeCamp followed up with a single.
Sedgwick came to he plate and gave NU three runs with a shot over the right-field fence to move the score to 19-7.
That ended the game on the run rule in five innings.
Draper hopes Friday’s win will carry over to Lady Cats’ final regular season game against Northwestern today.
“That set us up tomorrow for a good victory against Northwestern,” she said. “I think if we continue on this path, it is going to be a great game again.”
North Union sports an 18-6 overall record.
LN 034 00 7 7 3
NU 443 53 19 20 2
WP-DeCamp
LP-Doughman