The Hornets traveled to St. Joseph on Tuesday night to take on Lafayette in a Midland Empire Conference matchup on the softball diamond. Once again, pitching and defense was the story for the majority of the night, freshman pitcher Landry Marsh allowed just five hits against eight strikeouts, pitching all seven innings and picking up the win for Chillicothe.
After a scoreless first inning, the Hornets got on the scoreboard as Hadley Beemer began her great night from the plate with a single, she finished the game with four hits from five at bats. Adra Stretch brought Beemer home a couple batters later, and then Charley Peniston connected on a hit to score Stretch, giving Chillicothe a 2-0 lead after two innings of play.
The lead was doubled in the third inning thanks to RBIs from Chillicothe’s two most productive offensive players on the night, Tori Stoner and Beemer, who combined for eight of the 15 total hits in the game for the Hornets. Lafayette pulled a run back in the fifth inning but Chillicothe responded with another of their own to replenish the lead back to four runs at a score of 5-1 heading into the final inning of play.
In the top of the seventh, with Coach Lee Rucker going into his bench, Chillicothe’s bats started heating up in a major way, highlighted by Hayden Hanson with her single that scored two runners in her only plate appearance. The Hornets tallied six runs in the last inning and the defense held Lafayette scoreless in their final effort, to win the game 11-1.
After the contest Coach Rucker said, “It was good to get the first conference win of the season. It took a little bit to get our bats going but our defense and pitching were solid.” The Hornets improve to 5-4 on the season and 1-0 in MEC play. Next up is the Chillicothe Tournament with pool play games against Marshall and Holden on Saturday morning. Then on Tuesday, Chillicothe returns to conference play at Cameron, another game you can hear live on KCHI.
