As the ball sailed over the center field fence in Sierra Norman’s first at bat, she embodied the motivation that North had to win its first outright conference title in school history.
Although the Bull Dogs had already clinched at least a share of the Conference Indiana crown, they left no doubt that they wanted the championship all to themselves in a 17-6 drubbing of Southport Monday night.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Norman’s home run was just a preview of things to come. North pounded out 17 hits, seven of which were for extra bases, including three home runs. In addition to Norman’s first inning homer, Bailey Lofton hit two of her own, including a grand slam, on a night where she went 3 for 3 and knocked in seven runs for the champions.
“For us to have struggled the past two years and then to win conference, this is huge,” Lofton said. “Although we are not satisfied yet because we have more games to go, this helps us to realize that we have the ability to come out of sectional.”
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The Bull Dogs (11-8, 5-0), whose only other conference title was a co-championship in 2009, were relentless with the bats. Eight different players had hits, and they scored in every inning but the second.
After Southport (12-12, 2-2, which was the home team because it was originally supposed to host before the game was moved to North because of wet field conditions at Southport, tied the game in the first, North broke loose for four runs in the third.
Lexi Heafner began the inning with a single. That was followed by a Norman single. They were both knocked in by a Rachel Cowan double. Lofton’s first homer of the night then drove in the third and fourth runs of the inning.
The Bull Dogs chased Southport starter Johnna Bear from the circle after just 2 2/3 innings of work. But it did not matter who was in the circle against North. The Bull Dogs scored two runs in the fourth, a run in the fifth, and two more in the sixth to take a 10-3 into the final inning.
And although the game was already out of reach for the Cardinals, North saved its biggest inning for last. In the seventh, the Bull Dogs plated seven runs on five hits and two Southport errors. The inning was punctuated by Lofton’s grand slam over the right-center field fence.
In the circle, Bull Dog pitcher Rachel Cowan was in control. She went the distance, allowing six runs and striking out three. But on a night when their offense scores 17 runs, perfection was not necessary.
“I thought Rachel threw well. They have a really strong top of the lineup, so we knew they would get their hits, and they did in the last inning when they scored three runs. But she did what she needed to do to help us win,” North coach Ron McDonald stated.
And, McDonald stated, winning the conference championship was a goal at the beginning of the season.
“One of our goals was to win conference. And we wanted to win this thing outright. We are really playing well right now. Our freshmen are all hitting the ball well. And we kind of busted out tonight. The girls love each other, I love the coaches, and this was a great team effort.”
Offensively, four different Bull Dogs scored three runs each, and eight different players had RBIs. Heafner, Cowan, Meghan Waggoner and Peri Foust all added extra base hits.
