Second-inning woes sink Indians Tuesday

By ROB HAMILTON

An excellent season by the Mount Gilead softball team ended Tuesday at Pickerington North as Northridge topped the Indians 6–1 in a district semifinal game.

The Vikings did most of their damage in the second inning, when they tallied four runs. Faith Hizer opened the inning with a triple off MG pitcher Baylee Smith and was driven in by the next batter.

A walk then put runners on first and second for Northridge pitcher Kassi Davison, who smacked a double to give her team a 3–0 lead. The Vikings would add one more run on a two-out hit to go up by four.

The Indians weren’t able to string together enough hits to make up that ground. In the first inning, they had two runners on base with only one out, but came away empty-handed. They put a runner on second with one out in the second inning, but were once again held scoreless.

In the third inning, Caylor Arnold opened with a double. With one out, Smith beat out an infield single to put runners on the corners. Macayla McAvoy then smacked a double to bring in Arnold.

However, with the score at 4–1 with runners on second and third and one out, the Indians would not be able to keep it up offensively. While a walk loaded the bases with two out, Northridge was able to escape the inning with no further damage done.

The Vikings would get back to a four-run lead in the top of the fourth, as a grounder by Kayla Davison drove in a run. They would then add another in the sixth as Kayla Davison smacked a run-scoring double.

While Mount Gilead got a runner on third with two outs in their half of the sixth, they would be unable to score as their season ended with a 22–4 record.

While he would have liked their season to last a bit longer, Indian head coach Joe Ruhl noted that his team had no reason to be ashamed.

“We’re not walking out of here with our heads bowed,” he said. “We won 22 games and were Blue Division champs, so we’ll go out of here with our heads held high.”