By Liz Keller / Scrimmageplaycva.com contributor
PALMYRA – The Louisa County softball team appears to be putting it all together in 2012. In their Jefferson District opener on Friday night, the Lions found their formula for success, using solid pitching and defense along with timely hits up and down the batting order to dispatch Fluvanna County 17-2 in a game shortened to five innings because of the 10-run rule.
“Offensively, this is probably the best [we’ve played],” Louisa second-year coach Daniel Barrett said. “We started in our last game to make adjustments at the plate and we continued on that tonight. It was very pleasing and I was happy to see them continue to improve in that aspect. It’s something we’ve been struggling with so far, so for us to come out here the last two games and make the adjustments to be successful, has been a really good sign for us.”
The Lions (8-2, 1-0) took an early 2-0 lead, but broke the game open in the second inning, exploding for six runs.
Chrissy Cromer got things started with a single to center field and McKenzie Riner joined the hit parade with a deep triple to right field to knock in three runs. Brianna Cox, the winning pitcher, added an RBI (one of three on the night) with a sacrifice fly to right. Cleanup batter Brittany Wratchford belted a triple to right before scoring on a fielder’s choice.
Louisa held the Flucos scoreless until the final inning with near-perfect defense and a strong outing from Cox. The senior gave up a pair of runs on four hits in five innings and recorded a strikeout to earn the win.
The Lions pounded out 13 hits and went on to tack on nine more runs in the fifth inning as they batted around the order. Louisa also capitalized on four Fluvanna errors in the inning.
Morgan Kocolis provided another highlight for the visitors with a pair of RBI singles in the final frame, while Cromer added a two-RBI triple to the fence in right center field. Lindsey Talley finished 2 for 3 with two runs and leadoff hitter Hali Goad added 3 RBI in the victory.
Taylor Beck hit a two-RBI single in the fifth as Fluvanna scored its lone runs of the game. Olivia Noraas, Sasha Morgan and Alexis Scott also had singles for the Flucos.
The loss snapped a five-game win streak for the Flucos, which knocked off Albemarle earlier in the week.
“We’ve been hitting the ball pretty well and our defense has been pretty flawless, but we also haven’t had to play a lot of defense because we haven’t had a team hit as well as they did,” Fluvanna coach Aime McCall said. “We made a lot of mistakes that we don’t usually make, but they definitely out-hit us tonight.”
Fluvanna (5-3, 1-1) looks to get back on track against Powhatan on Tuesday, while Louisa entertains Western Albemarle.
“We’ve been getting good defense and strong pitching all season – it’s that offensive side we’ve been working and trying to get better at,” Barrett added. And if we can continue to pitch and play the way we have and continue the hot offensive bats, we’ll be really good in the district this year.”
