Avery Chadwick Has Big Night as Hawks Down Mercer

Gilman City broke a two-game skid as Avery Chadwick had a big night for the Hawks to get them back on track Thursday. She went 3 for 3 as Gilman City shut out Mercer 10-0. Previously, the Hawks saw a five-game winning streak snapped as North Harrison grabbed its first win of the season over them 10-6. After a week-long layoff due to rain, they played a forgettable 16-1 loss to undefeated Princeton. The Hawks have varied from game to game this year, but they turned around and showed up to play against Mercer, a team that had played them tough earlier this year.

Tenley Griffith only struck out three, but she threw 54 pitches, 38 of them for strikes. She had support in the field as the Hawks played errorless ball behind her.

Chadwick got a workout with her glove as well as her bat. She put away two fly balls in the first to turn back the Cardinals.

Kayleece Puls started the Hawk scoring in the second with a double to left field. Avery Chadwick singled to center to put Gilman City up 1-0. Emmery Smith singled to right field as Chadwick advanced to third. The ball got away to allow Smith to advance to second. Caitlynn Chalfant grounded out to score Chadwick to make it 2-0 as Smith advanced to third. The first four plays happened on four pitches. Tenley Griffith singled to center to plate Emmery Smith to make it 3-0. Hailey McClure jumped on the first pitch and hit a pop fly out of the reach of the shortstop as Tenley Griffith advanced to second. Alli Burke jumped on the first pitch and singled to left to score Griffith to make it 4-0 as McClure advanced to second. The approach of attacking early in the count continued to pay off as Nova Smith singled to center to score McClure to make it 5-0 after two.

Avery Chadwick singled to start the Hawk third. Emmery Smith hit it hard, but right at the center fielder. Caitlynn Chalfant struck out. But Kameron Mars singled to right and the ball got away as Chadwick advanced to third. Kameron Mars advanced on defensive indifference. Tenley Griffith reached second on a dropped pop fly as Mars and Chadwick, off on contact, scored to make it 7-0.

Mercer got traffic on the basepaths in the fourth as Taylor Whitaker, Zoe Fisher, and Khloe Ponjavick all singled to load the bases with nobody out. Lily Stark grounded to shortstop Kayleece Puls, who threw a strike home to Nova Smith to get a force out. Jalyn Cain hit a foul tip, held by catcher Nova Smith for the second out. Aubrey Bass grounded out to Puls to end the threat.

Alli Burke walked on four straight pitches to start the Hawk fourth. Nova Smith forced her at second, but Kayleece Puls walked on four pitches to put runners on first and second. The last batter the Cardinals wanted to see in Avery Chadwick came up, and she jumped on the first pitch and singled to center, scoring Smith to make it 8-0 as Kayleece Puls advanced to second.

With one out in the Hawk fifth, Tenley Griffith turned on the first pitch and reached first on a dropped fly ball. Hailey McClure forced her at second, but Alli Burke doubled to center to score Hailey McClure to make it 9-0. Nova Smith fouled the first pitch off, but turned on the second and doubled it to left to score Burke and the Hawks got to go home early.