For the first time in two years, Columbus North softball is on a winning streak.
The Bull Dogs, who won only one game last season and started 0-12 this spring, won their second in a row Monday, a 5-3 decision against Edinburgh.
“We are starting to do what we can do, and it’s working out for us,” sophomore third baseman Sierra Norman said. “We’re having an attitude that we can win.”
Norman’s two-out, two-run homer over the scoreboard in left-center field in the bottom of the fifth proved to be the game-winner for North (2-12). The blast broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Bull Dogs a 4-2 lead.
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Norman has been batting around the .600 mark for most of the year, but she was 0 for 2 for the game going into that at bat.
“I just wanted to get a base hit and get people around,” Norman said. “I knew I needed to make an adjustment, and it just came that third at bat.”
The Lancers (9-4) loaded the bases with nobody out in the sixth, but North’s Meghan Waggoner came through with back-to-back strikeouts and induced a fly out to end the threat.
The Bull Dogs added an insurance run in the sixth when Jenna Fath led off a single and pinch runner Angenzi Gonzalez went to second on a sacrifice by Brittany Reichenba and scored on a double by Lilly Hurt.
Edinburgh threatened in the seventh when Maddi Clark led off with a single, went to second on a single by Sidney Beier and scored when the ball got through to the wall. That brought the tying run to the plate, but Waggoner again retired three in a row to get out of the jam and end it.
“For us being so young, it’s an improvement for us because we know that we can do it,” junior catcher Bailey Lofton said. “We know that everyone can contribute, and we can win games.”
The Lancers got on the board first on a two-out homer to left by Beier in the first. The Bull Dogs tied it in the third when Brooke Rice doubled to center, went to third on an error and scored on another error on the same play.
Edinburgh took the lead back in the fourth when Beier led off with a triple to the right-field corner and came into score with the relay throw to third got away. The Lancers then loaded the bases with still nobody out, but Waggoner came through with three consecutive strikeouts.
“I’m proud of her,” North coach Ron McDonald said. “I want her to be tough-minded, and she’s starting to really get the grit and be tough-minded.”
Lofton tied the game at 2-2 with a home run leading off the fourth.
“(Clark) was a rise-ball pitcher, so when we were warming up, we knew we had to swing down,” Lofton said. “So I think everyone after the first round (through the batting order) knew we had to swing down, and then it would go from there.”
Seven different players colleted the Bull Dogs’ seven hits. Beier went 4 for 4 for the Lancers, while Vanessa McManaway and Paige Burton each went 2 for 4.
Both teams committed three errors.
“Our defense, or lack of it, set the tone for the game,” Edinburgh coach Stephen Clark said. “We struggled making some routine plays. We just mentally weren’t in the game. You take the three errors and a couple of balls that may have been caught in the outfield, that adds up. You start adding extra outs to the game, it makes it harder to beat someone. Hitting-wise, that’s a very solid (North) team, and they came out to play.”
The Bull Dogs had to adjust their lineup just prior to the game after leadoff batter and center fielder Haylee Acton sustained a concussion after being hit in the head with a ball in warmups. Another center fielder, Lilly Hurt couldn’t throw overhand, so Brooke Bruin moved from third base to center field, Norman moved from shortstop to third, Aden Voss moved from second to short, Jenna Fath moved from first to second and Catey Streeval stepped in at first.
The formula turned out to be a winning one for North.
“We’re capable of winning out, so that’s what our goal is,” McDonald said.
