Brooklyn Richardson tossed a no hitter for Worth County and struck out 14 Hopkins batters, and the Tigers pulled away for a 7-1 win against an improved Hopkins squad. All three of the Tiger squads – the 18 & under, the 14 & under, and the 11 & under – honored Aivry Griffin by wearing her number Thursday night. She also tossed one last fall against East Harrison.
Hopkins broke out on top when Andrea Jenkins reached on an error and took second, third, and home on wild pitches. Worth County was off to a rocky start in the first, but Richardson settled down after her catcher, Rylee Ruckman, gunned down a runner stealing to prevent further damage.
The Tigers have the luxury this year of having two squads at the high school level, the first time that has happened in 25 years. The last time the Tigers were able to do that, it led to the Tigers making a second place run to the state tournament in 2000. This gives coaches Tiffany Bliley and Haley Hunt the luxury of trying people at different positions and seeing what they are good at.
Two Hopkins errors in the Tiger first opened the floodgates for Worth County, and they scored four runs and were never seriously threatened after that.
Rylee Ruckman threw another runner out stealing in the second and Hailey Adwell, running from center field to behind shortstop, robbed a Hopkins player of a bloop hit in the third. The Tigers seem to have the catcher’s slot locked down for the next few years behind Ruckman and Autumn Cousatte, who enemy baserunners couldn’t get out of a game last year, try as they might.
Nevaeh Halvin kept Hopkins in the game; her pitching greatly improved this year, and she was around the strike zone all night, only walking one batter. Andrea Jenkins, after a rough start at second, made a diving catch to rob a Tiger of a hit in the fifth. Shortstop Bailey Bloomquist robbed one Tiger of a hit with a diving catch and another with a diving stop of a sharp grounder up the middle and touched second with her glove just ahead of Kara Staton.
The Tigers had several new faces step up. ZeeAnna Gladstone crushed a double over the center fielder’s head that drove in a run in the third. Katie Fletchall crushed a gap triple to right center and later came home on a groundout in the fourth. Brylee Rush added a double for the Tigers.
The under 14 Tigers lost to Hopkins 4-2. Lexi Snead hit a pop fly into no-man’s land for a single for the Tigers.
No comments:
Post a Comment