– Photo courtesy of The Bulldogs
The Clinton Central Bulldogs Varsity softball team claimed a victory against Twin Lakes Wednesday night with a final score of 9 to 4.
Traveling to Monticello to take on Twin Lakes, the Bulldogs Varsity softball team secured victory in a long-awaited game that had been postponed since weather conditions caused a delay in the progression of the game in March.
As the players prepared to take on Twin Lakes after back-to-back nights with several strikeouts and few hits against Western Boone and Rossville on Monday and Tuesday, the Bulldogs focused upon keeping their bats alive, which resulted in an early lead for the Bulldogs, scoring two runs in the first inning while holding Twin Lakes to 0.
Senior Landree Whiteman kicked off the game with a first-pitch leadoff double that was soon followed by Junior Wallsmith’s base-hit bunt that moved Whiteman to third, and Wallsmith advanced to second on the same play. Senior Kortney Surber was granted a 7-pitch walk to load the bases as Sophomore Carly Davison stepped to the plate, “blistering” a ball up the middle of the field to score both Whiteman and Wallsmith. The dynamic start to the game ended quickly as no other runs were scored during the first inning.
Twin Lakes approached the bottom of the first swinging, lining out to Junior Abigail Richie before the next batter smashed a double for the first hit of the game for Twin Lakes. Whiteman stayed firm on the mound and pitched two back-to-back strikeouts to end the first inning.
The Bulldogs kept their bats alive in the second inning, scoring enough runs in the first and second innings to win the game with two in the first and three in the second. Freshman Olivia Richie kicked off the top of the second inning with a single to right field, followed by Junior Kylie Riehl who secured first base on an error that allowed Richie to score.
Following the dynamic start of the second inning, Whiteman stepped to the plate, smashing a line drive that sailed over the fence for a two-run home run, which marked the first home run of her career. The Bulldogs’ bats fizzled momentarily afterward as the top of the first came to a close.
The Bulldogs held Twin Lakes to a score of zero in the bottom of the second as Whiteman threw only eight pitches, resulting in two fly balls that were caught and a strikeout.
In the top of the third, the Bulldogs would be held to a 5-score lead as Twin Lakes played defensively to block any attempts to score, and Twin Lakes would take advantage of the shift in scoring by securing one run at the bottom of the third.
The Bulldogs would bounce back in the top of the fourth, adding two more runs to the tally while maintaining their defensive domination by skunking Twin Lakes in the bottom of the fourth, bringing the score to 7 to 1.
Twin Lakes gained momentum in the fifth inning, blocking any runs from reaching the plate for the Bulldogs in the top of the inning before approaching the plate with bats blazing, scoring three runs to bring the game within three runs. Two Bulldog errors and a home run allowed for Twin Lakes to gain some momentum; however, the fifth inning would be the final runs scored for Twin Lakes during the game.
The sixth inning saw the Bulldogs score one more run followed by another run in the top of the seventh inning. Twin Lakes was held to their four run tally in the last two innings. The game concluded with a score of 9 to 4 as the Bulldogs secured a win over Twin Lakes with the Bulldogs securing 14 hits and 2 errors throughout the game compared to Twin Lakes’ 7 hits and 4 errors.
Whiteman led the charge for the Bulldog defense with pitches that kept Twin Lakes off balance, only allowing seven hits and no freebies throughout the entire game.