The Columbus East softball team dug itself another early hole in the first three innings of the game Thursday.
After rallying for a comeback against Edinburgh in Tuesday’s season opener, there was no huge rally in store Thursday. The Olympians fell to defending sectional champion Bloomington North 12-0.
East (1-1) had a tough night at the plate against Indiana Wesleyan commit Kenzey Ridge, who struck out 10 batters in the first four innings. The Olympians had only three hits in the game, with their first hit not coming until the fifth inning.
“(Edinburgh) was a great win for us, and they are a quality team, but Bloomington North is defending (sectional) champs, and the competition was much greater,” East coach Rusty Brummett said. “Their pitcher is a great ball player. Our pitchers got better as the game went on. They are a team that is going to make you pay for any mistakes.”
In the first inning, the Cougars (2-0) wasted no time in getting on the board. Ashton Matherly knocked in two runs with a double and then later scored off a Kaycee Wisley double to lead 3-0. After picking up two runs in the second inning, Wisley smacked a three-run homer for an 8-0 lead in the third.
Once the fifth inning was underway, East started settling down. Brooke Valles led off with a double, but the next three batters were retired to keep the Olympians scoreless.
Becca Carter singled to lead off the sixth inning and Kendra Pastrick led off the seventh inning with a single, but the key hits never occurred after that.
The Cougars capped off the scoring when Emma Alexander blasted a three-run homer over the fence in deep center field in the seventh.
Brummett says the game was a good step to see where his team is, and if it wants to win sectional, it likely will have to face Bloomington North again.
“We’re getting better, and our program is going in the right direction,” Brummett said. “We’re going to run into these people, and this is who we gauge ourselves against. We’ve got work to do, but the good news is that this is the second game of the season. I believe this team is mature enough, even though I have a lot of freshmen, that we can come back and understand that we cannot let this season get away from us.”
