Royals sweep Devils with offense

By LONNIE McMILLAN

Sports editor

CAREY — Good teams find different ways to win.

Typically for Wynford, it is with pitching and defense, but on Wednesday, offense carried the Royals to a 10-6 victory against Carey in Northern 10 Athletic Conference softball play at Carey.

The Royals (7-6, 5-1 N10) put together a pair of four-run innings and finished the game with a dozen hits, including four doubles. They needed it because the Blue Devils (2-9, 1-7 N10) came to life on offense after being one-hit the day before.

“That’s the one bad thing about softball and baseball is we go back-to-back days usually to play,” Wynford coach Chelsea Rice said. “The girls knew it wasn’t just our defense today; it wasn’t going to be just the pitching and the pop flies and making plays. We had to get the bats going. Carey was used to us last night; we were used to them last night. We’ve got to get the bats going, and that’s exactly what they wanted to do.”

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It would be hard to tell from the final score, but the game was a pitchers’ duel for three innings before Wynford had its first big inning in the top of the fourth.

Rylee Robinson singled and scored on a Brooke Frombaugh hit, and Briley Hildreth doubled home Frombaugh to make it 2-0. After a walk to Erin Wolfe and a wild pitch, groundouts from Addison Sebring and Makaila Morrison resulted in two more runs.

Carey, though, battled back and took the lead over the next two innings, starting with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Tylinn Stoll and Raigan Kessler singled, Ashley Hohman singled in a run, and Kessler scored on an error to make it 4-2.

Trinity Reinhart and Kessler had RBI singles in the fifth inning, and the go-ahead run scored on an error.

“We had extra practice this morning,” Carey assistant coach Hailey Niederkohr said. “I opened up the complex for the girls to hit. I think it also helped with that mentality of them getting some good swings in before the game also boosted their confidence up to say, ‘I hit really well this morning, so I think I’m going to hit really well in the game.’ Yesterday, we only had one hit. Just coming back from that is phenomenal.”

Emily Stauffer had an RBI single to tie it in the top of the sixth before Rylee Robinson hit a bases-loaded doubled with two outs to put Wynford back in front 8-5.

Autumn Bouillon singled and then scored on an error on a hit from Danika Hanna to get one run back in the bottom of the inning.

Briley Hildreth led off the seventh inning with her second double of the day, and after a Wolfe single, Hildreth scored on an error. Morrison’s bloop center added one more insurance run.

“We have a little saying when we need it: ‘It’s not enough,’” Rice said. “Coach Wags [Madie Wagner] and I always tell them, ‘Want more for yourself, for your team, just everything.’ Of course we can win 6-5 every time, but we want more for the team.”

Kessler led off the bottom of the seventh with her fourth hit in as many at-bats, but Robinson retired the next three batters to end the game.

It was not her best day, but Robinson (7-4) limited damage and pitched out of jams, giving up five earned runs on 13 hits and one walk with six strikeouts.

Just back from an injury, Stoll (1-4) hung tough in the circle, giving up 12 hits and three walks with two strikeouts. She also was 3-for-3 and added a walk at the plate.

“I’m very proud of them, especially coming from yesterday,” Niederkohr said. “Today, we looked like a different team. Our warmup was even better. We came out ready to play, all of our girls. It really helped that all of our girls are very supportive of one another.”

Robinson, Stauffer and Hildreth all had two hits for the Royals. Wolfe singled, walked twice and scored three runs.

A sweep of any opponent in the N10 is not easy to come by, so Wynford is happy to get it in any way possible and moves ahead from here.

“We started today and said that nothing before today mattered,” Rice said. “We’ll take our wins and we’ll eat the losses, and today was the only day that mattered, and they got to win. From here on out, we’re just going to push forward.”

The Royals play at 5 p.m. Friday at Buckeye Central. The Blue Devils compete in a tournament at Old Fort beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday.

 

Score by innings

Wynford             000       404       2             — 10 12 5

Carey   000       231       0             —   6 13 2

WP: Robinson (7-4); LP: Stoll (1-4).

2B: Hildreth (W) 2, Robinson (W), Stauffer (W).