Columbus North’s Maddi Rutan slides into home plate against Columbus East catcher Jessica Johnston at Southside Elementary Monday April 18, 2022.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
Rachel Cowan and Emalee Heafner haven’t been hitting the ball with great consistency of late, so when the Columbus North seniors tagged back-to-back home runs in the first inning Monday, they breathed a sigh of relief.
Cowan’s three-run blast and Heafner’s solo shot sent the Class 4A No. 4 Bull Dogs on their way to an 11-1, five-inning softball victory against crosstown rival Columbus East.
“I’ve actually been in a little slump the past few games,” Heafner said. “I’ve struck out, and then it felt good to hit that one finally because I was actually keeping my head in, keeping my body in and I just hit it over the fence.”
Cowan’s home run came after the Olympians (2-7) had intentionally walked North standout Maddi Rutan. Josie Lemmons had led off the inning with a single and stolen second base.
“I’ve been down in the dumps lately with my hitting, so that got me back to where I needed to be,” Cowan said. “It’s a lot of pressure whenever they walk Maddi, and then you’re like, ‘Oh well, darn, now I have to hit the ball.’”
“We wanted somebody there to protect her, and Rachel’s been seeing the ball real well and when she hits it, it will go,” North coach Ron McDonald added. “She did a great job.”
The Bull Dogs (8-1) added a run in the second when Lemmons singled with one out, stole second, took third on a groundout by Kelsey Lovelace and scored on a wild pitch.
After that, East pitcher Megan Kennedy settled down, holding North scoreless in the third and fourth. Then, the Olympians got on the board when Addy Ross led off the fifth with a home run to cut the lead to 5-1.
“We have to do a better job of, once we get somebody down, we finish it,” McDonald said. “That’s something we weren’t doing in the middle innings, and then at the end, we started being a little bit more patient and started seeing it better.”
The Bull Dogs put it away with six in the bottom of the fifth. Rutan was intentionally walked to lead off the inning, stole second, went to third on a passed ball, and after Cowan walked and stole second, Rutan scored when Heafner reached on a fielder’s choice.
Pinch-hitter Kaylee Cowan followed with an RBI-single, and Bailey King reached on a bunt single to load the bases. Kaden Hofelich walked to force in a run, and Taylor Hadley lined a two-run single. With one out, Kelsey Lovelace smacked an RBI-triple to right to end it.
“I thought our pitcher (Kennedy) did a nice job of keeping everybody off balance after the first inning,” East coach Rusty Brummett said. “Our goal is to make everybody earn every run that they get, and we did not make an error. They had to earn everything. Yeah, it got away from us there in that last inning, but if you would have told me going into it that after the fourth inning, it would be 5-1, I’d say ‘I’ll take it.’”
Rutan finished with a two-hitter and eight strikeouts in the circle for North. Lemmons went 3 for 3, and Heafner went 2 for 3 to lead the Bull Dogs’ 11-hit attack.
“I’m really pleased with the way our kids played tonight,” Brummett said. “That’s a good ballclub. They’ve only lost one (game) for a reason. They’re pretty good. They have kids that work hard. We have kids that work hard, as well. I’m very proud of the way our girls played today. We showed that we’re willing to compete with anybody.”
