Baleigh Fish got herself into some jams Thursday night, but eventually, she pitched her way out of them.
The Columbus East sophomore threw a three-hitter and did not allow an earned run to lead the Olympians to an 11-1, five-inning softball win against Trinity Lutheran.
“Baleigh did a nice job pitching,” East coach Rusty Brummett said. “Her last few outings, she’s done a nice job keeping us in ballgames. The last two games, we were able to push across some runs and get a couple ‘W’s, which is nice.”
Fish helped herself at the plate, as well. She went 2 for 2 with a double, a home run and two RBIs.
“I think we showed up and played a lot better,” Fish said. “We played with a lot better mentality and came out with that go-get mentality to where we were able to start off early and get things going to finish early.”
Fish gave up a leadoff double to Grace Lance in the first and a leadoff double to Clark Branham in the second. Both of those runners reached third base, but were unable to score.
Meanwhile, the Olympians (6-10) scored two runs off Lance in each of the first three innings. Fish had an RBI-double, and Taylor Wessel had an RBI-single in the first.
Lola Watkins struck out in the second, but went to first when the ball got past the catcher, then came all the way around to score when the throw to first went into right field. Fish then smacked a two-out homer.
Thaise Jessup hit an inside-the-park-home run in the third. Jade Hampton followed with a triple and scored on a passed ball.
The Cougars (1-8) took advantage of a pair of East errors to score an unearned run in the third. Trinity loaded the bases with nobody out in the fourth, but was unable to score.
“That’s been our biggest vice,” Trinity coach Herb Gross said. “We’ve not gotten the big hits, and we’re really struggling at the plate. We hit the ball hard, but it’s right at somebody. Eventually, they’re going to start falling, and that’s what I tell the girls. We’re going to start putting some runs on the board.”
The Olympians finished off the game with five runs in the fifth, capped by an RBI-single from Jessup.
“We consistently were putting up runs,” Brummett said. “We got stuck on six for one inning, but I thought we did keep scratching, keep having good at bats. That young lady (Lance) is a really good pitcher. I thought we had some good at bats against her and hit some balls hard.”
Watkins finished 2 for 3, and Jessup finished 2 for 4 with two RBIs for East, which recorded eight hits. Branham went 2 for 2 for the Cougars.
The Olympians were scheduled to host Connersville Friday, but that game has been moved to Connersville. East is building toward the East Central Sectional, where it will play Columbus North in the semifinals May 28.
“All in all, I’m pretty pleased with the way we played tonight,” Brummett said. “We had a couple nice plays, a couple things we can get better on. We want to make sure we keep getting better. We want to be ready for that first game of sectional and see what we can do in sectional and go battle and see if we can get a ‘W’ there.”
