The Chillicothe Lady Hornets entered their road game at Centralia on Tuesday night riding a 20 game win streak and looked to keep the momentum going against the #3 Class 3 Centralia Lady Panthers who were sporting an 18-5 mark.
In this matchup between two teams in District 4 for Class 3, both sides elected to save their ace pitcher for a potential district rematch. Chillicothe started sophomore Jordan Foster in the circle while Centralia featured Brooklyn Hardin.
Chillicothe opened the scoring in the top of the first, after a leadoff single by Landry Marsh, the Lady Hornets got on the board when Ellie Acree grounded a single to bring Marsh home. Pitcher Jordan Foster then prevented Centralia from getting any baserunners in the first two innings, striking out 3 of the first six batters she faced.
Leading 1-0 in the 3rd, the Lady Hornets created some separation. Marsh and Donoho were both hit by a pitch to begin the inning then Acree blasted a shot into right field for a triple, scoring two runs. Ashlynn Daugherty brought Acree home on a sacrifice fly, then three batters later a Jordan Foster single down the left field line scored two more runs for Chillicothe who went ahead 6-0. Centralia answered in the 3rd scoring two runs on three hits to make it 6-2 entering the 4th.
Back to the top of the order Marsh hit one against the fence in left field for a double before Hope Donoho belted a ball over the fence in right for a two shot homerun. Centralia made a change at pitcher, moving Raleigh Dutton to the circle but Chillicothe continued their solid hitting. Dutton managed to retire just one of 7 batters she faced while Daugherty’s double scored two more runs and Quin Marsh added an RBI on a single. After the Lady Hornets batted around the order and had the bases loaded, Centralia brought Hardin back in to pitch. Chillicothe scored a couple more runs in the 4th and when the dust settled the Lady Hornets had established a 13-2 lead.
Foster went three up three down in the bottom of the 4th, striking out two more batters, and the score remained 13-2 entering the bottom of the 5th. The Lady Hornets had a chance to close out the game with two outs before Blakely Van Dyke sent one deep into right field for a Lady Panthers two shot homerun, cutting the deficit to single digits at 13-4.
Then in the top of the 6th it was deja vu for Chillicothe. Marsh led off with a hit and Donoho took Hardin deep for the 2nd time with another homer in right field. Controlling a 15-4 lead, Chillicothe then held Centralia scoreless in the bottom of the 6th to run rule the Lady Panthers 15-4.
Jordan Foster was excellent in the circle, striking out 10 batters while allowing just 6 hits. Chillicothe racked up 14 hits on the night with Landry Marsh accounting for three. Hope Donoho stole the show with a pair of homeruns and 5 RBIs while Ellie Acree and Ashlynn Daugherty had a trio of runs batted in on the night.
Chillicothe improves to 21-1, and extends their winning streak to 21 games, Coach Lee Rucker expressed how impressed he has been with his teams steady improvement and consistency over the course of the season. The Lady Hornets will face another potential district team on Thursday on the road against Macon in a rematch of last years Class 3 Sate semi-final.