WABASH - The Lewis Cass Lady Kings didn't waste much time in their Class 2A Sectional 38 championship softball game against Manchester Wednesday.
Playing at the Morrett Sports Complex in Wabash, Cass (20-6) started the game with three-straight hits, holding a 1-0 lead before recording their first out in a 13-3, six-inning victory over the Lady Squires (13-7)."We came out early and did a really nice job of being disciplined and making (Manchester senior pitcher Jama Runkel) get the pitch down, then hitting it hard somewhere," Cass coach Scott Rouch said. "Fortunately, we were able to get them to make some mistakes, and get some runs on them."
Manchester made four errors in the game, including the center and right fielders running into each other while attempting to catch the third out of the second inning. Instead of making the play, Cass scored three runs in the bases-loaded situation.
Exemplifying the Lady Squires' problems of the day, Cass scored its 13th run when sophomore Gabrielle Ennis' single to right field slid under the fielder's glove, allowing freshman Jenna Yeakley to score from first, ending the game with the 10-run rule.
"That's from playing a lot of softball," Rouch said about his team capitalizing on mistakes. "We played some games earlier in the year, when we didn't do that. We've worked on it all year long. When you can steal a run, you steal a run at any chance you get."
While Cass was taking advantage of its opportunities, Manchester didn't get the same chances, as the Lady Kings committed just one error. However, on that error, the Manchester batter thought the ball had been caught, and ran back from first to pick up her bat. When she did that, she was tagged out, nullifying the error.
"As a coach, you talk about if you take care of the little things, it will take care of the bigger picture," Manchester coach Todd Volk.
"I don't know if it was nerves," Volk added. "Obviously, I didn't have them prepared. I'm thinking about what I could do different, and I'm going to have to think long and hard about it."
On top of the defensive woes, Manchester also struggled to get Cass junior Ellie Cain out, as she went 3 for 4 with three RBIs and a double.
Manchester's Meika Kennedy led her team, going 2 for 3 with two RBIs and a double.
Kennedy's first RBI was on a groundout in the top of the third inning that followed three-straight singles by sophomore Kaytlin Smith, freshman Kalene Freshour and sophomore Hannah Little. After the Kennedy RBI, Freshour scored on a wild pitch, cutting the lead to 5-2.
But just as Manchester got back into the game, Cass scored six runs in the third inning, putting the game out of reach at 9-2 after three.
"It's not a fun feeling, but if they learn from it, they'll be alright," Volk said about his team.
The Squires wrapped up the season with 13 wins, and only lose two seniors, giving Volk optimism for the future.
"We still have a lot coming back, and I hope they've learned from this experience," he said. "We've had a real good reason, we just picked a bad time to have a bad game."
