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Photo by Wade Linville: Eastern senior Lauren Clifton delivers the heat during Monday’s sectional win over West Union. By WADE LINVILLE
The News Democrat
The No. 1 seed Eastern Lady Warriors (18-5) headed to round three of the Southeast District Division III Sectional Tournament after cruising to a 10-0 run rule victory over the No. 8 seed West Union Lady Dragons in the second round Monday evening at Eastern High School. Mother Nature sure did dampen the field at Eastern High School during Monday’s tournament bout, but she sure didn’t have an effect on the Lady Warriors’ swift bats.
The Lady Warriors racked up 12 hits in five innings to end the season for the Lady Dragons, while Eastern’s senior right-hander Lauren Clifton dominated in the pitcher’s circle to garner 12 strikeouts in the shutout.
The big win was a good sign for Eastern varsity softball coach, Eric Purdy, as his Southern Hills League Champion team has struggled over the past few weeks and suffered four losses.
“This team peaked early,” Purdy said of his Lady Warriors. “They went down and now they starting to climb back up. I would really be afraid of this team right now if I was their opponent. We worked through some things over the past few weeks, and we’re back on track now.”
In round three of the sectional tournament, the Lady Warriors were scheduled to face No. 5 seed Ironton (8-7 at the time of the tournament draw) at Northwest High School May 19. If the Lady Warriors managed to pull out a win in round three, their headed to the Southeast District Division III Finals where they will face the winner of No. 2 seed Wellston (16-3 at draw time) and No. 3 seed West High School (14-6).
Regardless of who’ll they’ll face, Purdy said his team will be ready.
“We’re ready to play right now,” Purdy said of his team when asked about advancing to the next round. “The girls are fired up. If they go out and play solid ball like they played today, they’ll be hard to stop.”
After holding the Lady Dragons run-less in the top of the first inning, with Clifton striking out two batters, the Lady Warriors were quick to jump to a 3-0 lead off singles by Johnna Johnson and Emily Raines, as well as a few West Union errors.
Clifton struck out three of the five batters she faced to keep the Lady Dragons scoreless in the top of the second, and a homerun by Eastern junior Ryann Morse in the bottom of the second gave the Lady Warriors a four-run lead.
Hits by Morse, Johnson, Heidi Mitchell and Lauren Clifton in the bottom of the fourth brought four more runs across the plate for the Lady Warriors just prior to the game being delayed due to rain.
The rain kept pouring but, after a few touch-ups to the infield, the two teams were back in action about 15 minutes later.
Slick balls and muddy conditions caused a little control problems for Clifton in the top of the fifth, but she still managed to come through with three strikeouts to hold the Lady Dragons run-less once again.
With the rain still coming down in the bottom of the fifth, the Lady Warriors stepped to the plate in need of two runs to claim a run rule win.
Eastern sophomore Breanne Bruch kicked off the bottom of the fifth with a single, and scored two batters later off a hit by Clifton.
With freshman Kati Mullins coming in to pinch run for Clifton, Morse swung for a hit to gather the RBI that ended the game early.
Morse was nearly unstoppable at the plate in Monday’s win, batting 3-4 with one homerun, two RBIs and three runs. Johnson batted 3-3 with three singles and two RBIs. Clifton gave up only two hits and walked four batters in Monday’s win.
EHS 3 1 0 4 2 - 10
WUHS 0 0 0 0 0 - 0
EHS hit leaders: Morse (3-4, HR, 2 RBIs, 3R), Johnson (3-3, 3S, 2RBIs, 3R), Clifton (2-3, 2S, 2R, RBI), Raines (2-3, 2S, 2RBIs, 2R), Mitchell (2-3, S, D, 3RBIs).
WUHS hit leaders: Copley (1-2, S), Fields (1-2, S).
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