North Montgomery was able to hold off Crawfordsville for a 14-11 win in softball on Tuesday night.
The Chargers scored in six of their seven at-bats with timely hits, and by drawing 16 walks.
“Tonight we only had seven hits, but we had 16 walks, so that tells us right there we have a good eye,” North Montgomery coach Rob Earley said.
Tied at 3-3 after an inning, the Chargers plated four in the second and two more in the third to take a 9-4 lead. The North Montgomery hitters drew six walks in the pair of frames. And starting pitcher Piper Ramey held the Athenian hitters in check, allowing a single run in the second and posting a scoreless frame in the third.
“Her last three outings, she’s been more efficient,” Earley said. “And it’s really sparked us.”
Ramey allowed just three earned runs on eight hits, walked four, and struck-out nine.
The five-run deficit proved to be too much for the Athenians, but they battled back with a pair of runs in the fourth and fifth innings and three more in the sixth.
“We battled,” Crawfordsville coach Mackenzi Landrum said. “And we hit the ball hard, we just hit the ball hard at a lot of people. We didn’t give up. And that’s been the biggest thing going through the season, is just not giving up and fighting all the way through the very end, and we did that today.”
Crawfordsville trailed 13-11 entering the seventh, but the Chargers added a run in the top half of the inning, and Ramey shut the door in the Athenians’ half.
Celeste Moore led the Crawfordsville offense with three hits and two RBI, while Christina Susdorf and Jessica Tribble each had hits and drove in a run.
Ramey had two hits and two RBI, while Cascie Keller, Ella McManomy, and Jaymie Freeman each drove in two runs.
North Montgomery pushes their record to 8-13 on the season, as they’ve won four in a row.
“We are building confidence,” Earley said. “This is good and this is what the program needed.”
The Chargers host the Athenians (2-18) tonight at 5:30 p.m., as Crawfordsville looks for revenge against their county rivals.
“We are using it as a learning opportunity, and we are ready to go. We just need to show up ready to play tomorrow,” Landrum said.
