North Union’s Reese DeCamp follows through with a pitch against Marion-Franklin. She tossed a perfect game during the Division II tournament game.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Bob Putman)
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The 2024 North Union softball season has not been what the Lady Cats and their fans have seen in the past.
The ups and downs that have occurred left North Union with a 13-13 record at the end of the regular season.
The Lady Cats, however, finished the regular campaign winning five of their last six games.
Included in that were three straight wins to conclude the regular season.
North Union outscored the opposition 42-4 in those three games.
The No. 9-seeded Lady Cats continued the hot streak with a 14-0 Division II tournament win over No. 19 Marion-Franklin on Monday. The game was shortened by the run rule.
Reese DeCamp tossed a perfect game during the victory.
She fanned 11 batters, including two innings in which all three outs were by way of the strikeout.
“It has been a little different than what North Union has been used to,” Lady Cat head coach Pat Grove said after the regular season.
Grove added his team has found a way to bounce back as it started the tournament season.
“There were two ways to go,” Grove said of dealing with adversity. “You can pout or go out and do something about it. I think we’ve done something about it. We’ve had few errors, we have gotten good hitting and good pitching.”
The Lady Cats did all of the damage they needed in the first three innings against Marion-Franklin.
They scored five runs in the opening frame, seven in the second and two in the third.
DeCamp had the big hit in the first inning with a bases-loaded triple.
In the second inning, North Union had a trio of hitters break out the big bat.
Sierra Farrington drove home two with a double, Kennedy Harrah sent two more across the plate with a triple and Zoe Wedding had a two-bagger that scored another run.
Wedding completed the scoring in the third inning with a two-run home run, her second big blast in as many games.
The win advanced North Union (14-13) into a sectional final matchup against sixth-seeded Bloom Carroll (15-11).
The game is scheduled for Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Bloom Carroll.
“The late wins have given us confidence and we are preparing for Bloom Carroll,” Grove said.
M. Frank. 000 00—0-0-1
NU 572 00—14-9-0