Northern’s Kaylee Cross earned the win at pitcher and went 2 for 4 at the plate in the Patriots’ 10-2 home win against La Plata on Wednesday afternoon.
La Plata’s Erica Cox went 1 for 2 at the plate in a 10-2 losing effort on the road at Northern on Wednesday afternoon.
Staff photo by PRINCE J. GRIMES
Northern’s Kaylee Cross earned the win at pitcher and went 2 for 4 at the plate in the Patriots’ 10-2 home win against La Plata on Wednesday afternoon.
Staff photo by PRINCE J. GRIMES
La Plata’s Alyssa Bilodeau started at pitcher for the Warriors in a 10-2 loss at Northern on Wednesday afternoon.
Staff photo by PRINCE J. GRIMES
Northern’s Michaela Schaefer went 2 for 4 at the plate in the Patriots’ 10-2 home win over La Plata on Wednesday afternoon.
Northern’s bats got going early and often in a home softball game against La Plata on Wednesday, as the Patriots rode a six-run first inning to a 10-2 win over the Warriors.
Kaylee Cross improved to 2-0 from the mound this season, striking out three batters and allowing four hits, three walks and two earned runs in seven innings. She also went 2 for 4 at the plate with two doubles and three runs batted in. Her first two RBI came in the first inning after Kassidy Cross and Natalie LaPlaca led the inning with singles and aggressively maneuvered around the bases to reach second and third before Kaylee drove them in with her first double.
“I’ve been impressed with our offensive display,” Northern head coach Robert Earl Radford said of the team’s early season play. The Patriots got nine hits against La Plata and improved to 4-0 overall this season. “We’re a good hitting team. They put up one and then we had to come back and we answered.”
La Plata opened the game with a run in the top of the first inning after Erica Cox reached base on a double. She was advanced on a sac-bunt by Hannah Kraft and scored on a sac-fly by Devin Ruble. Cox was 1 for 2 at the plate with a walk.
In the bottom half, however, after Kaylee Cross’ double gave Northern a 2-1 lead, Cross was driven in by Michaela Schaefer’s triple. Like Cross, Schaefer went 2 for 4 with three RBIs. Then, Northern scored three more runs of the unearned variety, as La Plata committed two of its three errors before getting out of the first.
“We got to work on some of our defensive things, but overall I was happy that some of our young girls put the bat on the ball,” La Plata head coach Dave Krahling said. “I just think we have to minimize our errors.”
The Warriors responded with another run in the second inning, when an Alyssa Gayson double drove in Kelsey Hanks, who reached base on a double of her own. Hanks went 1 for 3. La Plata would get one more hit through the final five innings, however, and was unable to muster up enough offense to keep up with Northern.
“My change-up was definitely working for me, my curveball and my screwball,” Kaylee Cross said of her pitching performance. “[We’re] just working as a team. If we work as a team, hopefully number nine. I think we have all the talent in the world to do it.”
Cross, of course, was referring to the team’s chase for a ninth straight state title. Her sister, Kassidy Cross, went 2 for 3 at the plate with a walk and two runs scored. Lauren Daugherty was 2 for 3 with a double. In all, Northern had four extra-base hits.
Alyssa Bilodeau started at pitcher and got the loss for La Plata. She gave up seven earned runs and struck out six in seven innings. Overall, she threw four shutout innings, but four of the five walks she gave up came in a four-run third inning by the Patriots.
Myranda Smithburger, Gina Seifert, Kassidy Cross, and LaPlaca all reached base on consecutive walks. Kaylee Cross followed that with her third RBI, and Schaefer hit a single to drive in her second and third runs of the game.
La Plata, which fell to 1-2 with the loss, was scheduled to play at home against Huntingtown on Thursday. Its next game is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Monday at Leonardtown.
Northern is scheduled to play 4:30 p.m. today at North Point.
