Lola Watkins
Bedford North Lawrence catcher Ava Ratliff may only be a junior, but she already has the state’s all-time home run record.
Friday night, Ratliff added her 54th career dinger to her state-leading total when she blasted a shot over the fence in left-center leading off the sixth inning to break a 1-1 tie and give the Stars a 2-1 Hoosier Hills Conference win at Columbus East.
“We were throwing her outside, and she did a nice job of going out and getting the ball,” East coach Rusty Brummett said. “She’s a good hitter. We felt like Hermione (Robinson) was rolling pretty good pitching, and (Ratliff) hit a pretty good pitch. She earned it. For only being a junior and already having the state record for home runs is incredible.”
The Olympians (7-10, 1-3) led 1-0 after four innings, but they could have put a couple more runs on the board. After Lola Watkins led off the first with a triple, and Savanna Sullivan knocked her in with a double, BNL pitcher Aliza Jewell hit both Baleigh Fish and Addy Ross to load the bases with still nobody out.
Jewell then got out of the jam with a strikeout, a pop-up and a flyout to center.
“That’s the stuff that we have to keep working on — coming up with timely hits,” Brummett said. “Tonight, we only struck out three times in the ballgame against a pitcher that’s pretty good. But with the bases loaded and nobody out, you have to scratch across a couple more somehow. But we did a good job of them having runners on third and nobody out once, and didn’t let them score.”
The final three batters Jewell retired in the opening inning were the first of 17 in a row she set down for the Stars (9-9-1, 3-1). She retired 21 of the final 22 batters, with Ross’ two-out single in the sixth being the only baserunner she would allow after the first.
The loss was the fifth in a row, and the second straight by one run for East, which had fallen at Jennings County 3-2 on Tuesday.
“It’s just timely hitting,” Brummett said. “We just have to figure out how to finish a one-run ballgame on the plus side and not on the minus side.”
The Olympians will host Class 4A co-No. 8 Center Grove on Alumni Day at 10 a.m. Saturday.
