Adriana Kritzer and the rest of the Brown County softball team put an extra emphasis on batting during practice, and it showed Friday at Columbus East.
The Eagles pounded out 23 hits and scored 10 times in the first two innings. Kritzer went 5 for 5 with two doubles and three RBIs to help Brown County win its second game of the season with a 12-4 victory.
Brown County coach Kevin Greve was pleased with the way his team hit throughout the game.
“As a coach, it makes your job easy when the girls are ready to hit like they were,” Greve said. “They put six runs on the board in the first inning, and four in the second, you give yourself a really nice cushion. The girls came out really aggressive, and that’s what we’ve been wanting them to do.”
The Olympians (3-2) had trouble hitting the ball for most of the game. Jordan Johnston’s single in the first inning was their only hit until Kaitlin Wagner’s triple in the third. A Brown County error allowed Wagner to run home for East’s first score of the game.
The Olympians were down 12-1 going into the bottom of the fifth, but Wagner’s home run brought a little bit of life back to the team.
Johnston started the sixth by pitching three straight strikeouts, and Catie Dickmeyer’s RBI-single after Kamryn Cantu’s double closed the gap to 12-4.
“You have to be pleased with the way we got after it and kept fighting,” East coach Rusty Brummett said. “If you take away the first inning, it’s a 6-4 ballgame. We have to be better at coming out and being ready to play. A piece of that is being young, but that’s just an excuse. When you lace it up and get on the field, nobody cares how old you are.”
Wagner finished 2 for 3, while Johnston went 2 for 4 for the Olympians, who collected seven hits against Vicky Kelp.
Both Emma Summers and Maddy Edds went 4 for 5 with a double, with Edds collecting three RBIs for the Eagles (2-1). Aubrey Hollander went 3 for 5 with a double. Taylor Poling went 2 for 3 with a home run and two RBIs, while Whitney Clark and Azhia Morgan both went 2 for 4.
