By William / www.mcpherson-county-ks.com
MOUNDRIDGE – On Tuesday, the Moundridge softball team split a pair of home field games with Sterling, losing game one in nine innings 9-7 before bouncing back and getting a 10-4 victory in the nightcap.
The Lady Wildcats is now 14-4 for the season and will be hosting Marion on Thursday in a makeup game to close out the 2022 regular season.
In game one, Moundridge scored all seven runs in the first two innings while Sterling scored three in the first, two in the third and then tied the game with one run in each of the fourth and fifth innings. The game stayed tied until the top of the ninth when Sterling scored twice to earn the final 9-7 win.
Emily Durst went the full nine innings on the mound for the Lady Wildcats and threw 150 pitches while giving up 12 hits, four earned runs, walking three and striking out six.
At the plate, the Lady Wildcats were led by Addy Falco who had a home run among her two hits while knocking in three runs and scoring twice. Both Reese Schmidt and Emma Blough each had a pair of hits as well.
The Lady Wildcats was hampered in game one with leaving six runners on base and committing eight errors on defense.
For the nightcap, Moundridge took an early 2-0 lead before Sterling tied it in the top of the third. The Lady Wildcats then scored one in the bottom of the third, three in the fourth and four more in the sixth to gain the final six-run, 10-4 victory.
Emma Blough worked the mound for the Lady Wildcats and gave up nine hits, two earned runs and walked three while striking out seven on 114 pitches.
Leading the Lady Wildcat offense was Reese Schmidt who went 4-for-4 with five runs batted in while Emily Durst was 3-for-4.
MOUNDRIDGE LADY WILDCATS host Sterling
GAME 1: Sterling 3-0-2-1-1-0-0-0-2=9-12-6 > LADY WILDCATS 4-3-0-0-0-0-0-0-0=7-7-8
LADY WILDCATS PITCHING (IP-P-H-R-ER-SO-BB): Emily Durst 9.0-150-12-9-4-6-3.
LADY WILDCATS HITTING (AB-R-H-RBI-BB): Emily Durst 3-2-0-0-2; Kindall Elmore 4-1-1-0-1; Addy Falco 5-2-2-3-0; Reese Schmidt 5-1-2-2-0; Kate Eichelberger 4-0-0-0-0; Emma Blough 3-0-2-1-1; Lizzy Kliewer 4-0-0-0-0; Maggy Adolf 4-0-0-0-0; Aubree Durst 3-1-0-0-1. Team Totals: 35-7-7-6-5. 2B (1): Elmore – 1. HR (1): Falco – 1. LOB: 6.
GAME 2: Sterling 0-0-2-0-1-0-1=4-9-5 > LADY WILDCATS 2-0-1-3-0-4-X=10-12-2
LADY WILDCATS PITCHING (IP-P-H-R-ER-SO-BB): Blough 7.0-114-9-4-2-7-3.
LADY WILDCATS HITTING (AB-R-H-RBI-BB): E. Durst 4-2-3-1-0; Elmore 3-3-2-0-0; Falco 4-1-0-1-0; Schmidt 4-1-4-5-0; Avery Rice 0-1-0-0-0; Eichelberger 4-0-1-1-0; Blough 4-0-1-2-0; Kliewer 3-0-0-0-1; Hannah Schrag 3-0-0-0-0; Macie Woltje 1-0-0-0-0; A. Durst 3-2-1-0-0. Team Totals: 33-10-12-10-1. 2B (2): A. Durst, Eichelberger – 1. SB (3): Elmore, Falco, Schmidt – 1. LOB: 7.
(William is a free-lance writer covering McPherson County Activities – he can be reached at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)