NEW MARKET – Kami Dinius gave a little fist pump.
The only Southmongt softball senior did that right after teammate Anna Stokes hauled in a fly ball in center field off the bat of North Montgomery star Piper Ramey.
The at bat before, Ramey smoked one opposite field for a two-run home run to pad an early lead for the Chargers. South ace Kyndale Rice settled down on the mound after that, the Mountie bats responded and South cruised to a 22-4 Saturday early matinee win over its county rivals at Mountie Field.
“The girls came out with great intensity today, both hitting and running the bases,” South coach Dan Taylor said. “Kyndale had a rough start – mostly a command issue. She kind of settled down and kind of grind it out. She looked more like herself in the later innings, so important to get ahead in the count and a higher command level.”
Rice is now 4-0 lifetime against North in the circle.
“It’s defense,” North coach Rob Earley said. “That’s probably the worst defense we’ve played. Ground balls, fly balls, we just have to be better.”
North (2-7, 0-5 Sagamore Conference) plated four in the opening inning, but South responded with nine. A couple errors by North and RBI hits by Mallory Mason and Catie Himes led the way, chasing North starting pitcher Hope Delp without an out.
“Piper certainly got her pitch and drove it in that first inning,” Earley said. “She’s been solid all year and hope the girls can feed off that.”
South (4-5, 3-2) would add a pair in the second, five in the third and six in the fourth off Ramey and four more errors. Jenna Grino was 4-for-4 at the plate with three RBI and three runs scored. Rice reached four times on walks and singles and courtesy runner Makenzie Wood scored all four opportunities. Ten Mounties had at least one hit in the game.
“Our girls really did rise to the occasion for the county game,” Taylor added. “They like the feel of that and I know I do. I was happy how our girls responded.”
Faith Shirar and Elizabeth Winchester had the other hits for the visitors.
An emotional Earley also was remembering his late daughter Raelyn, a former Charger star, during the week of the 12th anniversary of her death in a car accident.
“It was a tough week,” Earley said. “She’s the reason I fell in love with this game. She loved hitting and she loved the game.She played for Jack Edwards. I remember one practice we had the pitching machine out in Waynetown with a bucket of balls. He said ‘RayRay, I want you to hit every ball to left field’ and she did. Then he wanted her to hit every ball to right field and she did. He said ‘I’ve never seen anything like that.’”
The game completed a grueling five game in six day swing for both teams.
North plays next Monday at home versus Attica before a conference home and home against Frankfort.
South plays at Covington Monday before consecutive conference tilts against Crawfordsville.
“Everything is a fixable mistake,” Earley said. “We just have to retain that information and be ready to go again.”
“I was afraid we might come out kind of flat,” Taylor said. “But the girls showed resiliency and played their best softball of the week.”
