LINDEN – Call it a tremendous day at the office.
Piper Ramey led her North Montgomery softball squad to a pair of Sagamore Conference wins.
It was 16-6 and 19-6 for the Chargers, who get their first two Sagamore Conference wins and move to 4-8 overall and 2-5 in the league,
The junior literally did it all…
In the Game 1 win, she pitched a complete game. She went the six innings played, scattered 10 hits and picked up her third pitching win of the campaign.
She struck out a dozen, two in each inning, and walked but one batter in a 115-pitch outing.
She was also effective at the plate, hitting for the cycle and driving in five runs. The cycle was right in order also. She homered (inside the park) in the first, tripled (and scored on an error) in the third, doubled in the fifth and singled in the sixth.
The Game 2 win saw her move to shortstop defensively, where she had two assists and two putouts.
Oh, yes, she continued to swing the bat well.
To the tune of four more hits, including two more home runs, and five more runs batted in.
The final Piper Tally: eight hits, not a single out made. Eight runs scored. A whopping 10 RBI. The first home run was inside the park, the second two fence-clearing shots.
“What an athlete,” North coach Rob Early said. “This team will follow her anywhere. She is such a leader.
Holding a combination press conference and coaches meeting after the game with assistant coaches Skylar Early, Mitch Early, Cristin Stephens and Kathryn Dillon, the force of Ramey’s effect became apparent.
“Brings such energy.”
“What leadership skills.”
“Such a good athlete and student.”
“Brings energy to every practice and game.”
“Is the best burper on the team and maybe most proud of that.”
There you have it-all the coaches said it was just so.
The fun of picking up two wins in one night was not lost on those same coaches, and they took plenty of time spreading out the atta-girls.
In Game 1, eight of the nine starters reached base at least twice, and using their 10 hits, took advantage of five Frankfort errors and eight wild pitches to scored in five different innings and end the game early.
“We had some great at-bats,” Head Coach Early said. “Tonight becomes such a confidence builder. So many of these girls are so coachable, and that starts with Piper, but it goes to players like Brenly Lauderbaugh, who doesn’t play a lot, but got a big hit and drove in two runs in the first game. We also got huge offensive nights from the top three in the batting order, because getting them on base in front of Piper is the key to our success Baily (Nichols) in the two spot and Ella (McManomy) in the three spot were great getting on base.”
That top of the order work showed in back-to-back innings of Game 1, when a double-play started the inning, and leadoff hitter Sophia Shea came to the plate.
Shea, Nichols and McManomy each reached base with a hit, getting hit, or drawing a walk, allowing Ramey to come up with runners in scoring position.
Those top four spots accounted for 13 runs scored.
Game 2 saw both coaching staffs move a lot of players into other spots, and play got a little ragged, but the Chargers took control early and posted another run-rule shortened game.
It was six runs in the first and a dozen in the second, and the home team found themselves taking intentional outs for the last three innings.
For the game, North had seven hits (four by Ramey) but scored 19 runs. There were a lot of walks, hit batters, wild pitches and passed balls. Three different Frankfort pitchers struggled to find the plate.
That top four in the Chargers lineup scored another 11 runs in Game 2, but the win was highlighted by Hope Delp pitching the five-inning win and picking up her first victory of the season.
The sophomore struck out nine and walked four, throwing 103 pitches while giving up five hits.
“Hope really threw a good game,” Early said. “She is just a sophomore, and we have a lot of hope for Hope in the future. We snapped an eight-game losing streak tonight, and we still have high expectations for this season. We have two issues to continue to work on and the first is our defense. We have to get better. The second is that we have to figure out a way to bring the outstanding practices we have to game nights.”
The Hot Dogs fall to 0-7 in both their league and season records.
There is plenty of softball ahead for both teams.
Frankfort has a trip to Central Catholic next Monday and has Tri-West in league play next week. They have played South and take on Crawfordsville in mid-May.
The Chargers traveled to Greencastle on Friday the 26th, and have Fountain Central at home Monday before tangling with Lebanon next week.
