Kelsey Lovelace
Sooner or later, it was bound to happen.
Columbus North finally gave up a run this season, and unfortunately for the Bull Dogs, it came an an inopportune time. South Bend Adams’s Haleigh Smith broke up a no-hitter with a home run off Maddi Rutan in the top of the seventh inning in Saturday’s North Invitational, and the Eagles held on for a 1-0 victory.
The Class 4A No. 3 Bull Dogs bounced back with a pair of five-inning victories to place third in their tournament.
“I’m kind of frustrated we didn’t get the first one, but it happens,” Rutan said. “We weren’t expecting that change-up to be a pitch that she would be able to hit, but right pitch, right time, the wind was blowing out. Everything had to be perfect in that moment for her to hit it out. She had a good swing off of it, and sometimes that just happens. We didn’t hit the way we wanted to that first game, but we bounced back and we did really good the second and third games.”
Rutan finished with a one-hitter and 10 strikeouts against Adams. Josie Lemmons went 2 for 3 for North, which managed only three hits.
“I have to do a better getting us ready with early-morning games like that,” North coach Ron McDonald said. “That’s on me. We have to keep improving every day, and that’s what we tell the girls. We had a great night (Thursday) against Franklin Central with 19 hits, and we came out this morning, and I just didn’t have them aggressive enough for the first thing in the morning.”
The Bull Dogs had little trouble in an 11-0 win against Class A No. 2 Clay City in its second and final pool play game. Rachel Cowan threw a five-hitter with eight strikeouts.
Lillian Mackey
Lillian Mackey went 3 for 3 with two home runs and three RBIs. Kelsey Lovelace went 2 for 3 with two home runs and four RBIs, and Rutan went 2 for 2 with a double and a home run.
“I’ve been struggling a little bit recently, and I’ve been working really hard with my hitting instructor and during practice, and with a lot of help from the coaches, I’ve been able to get it back,” Mackey said. “It feels really good to be able to hit the ball like I used to again.”
Finishing second in its pool, North squared off against Seymour, the second-place team from the other pool. Rachel Cowan and Rutan combined on a two-hitter in a 10-0 victory.
Lovelace went 2 for 2 with a triple, Mackey went 2 for 2 and Kaylee Cowan went 2 for 3 with a triple and two RBIs.
Mackey finished 5 for 7 and Lovelace 5 for 8 for the tournament for the Bull Dogs (7-1), who host Columbus East on Monday.
“I’ve been striking out a lot and was really down on myself, but it felt really good to hit the ball today,” Lovelace said. “I think the first game, we were really flat, and we just weren’t ready to play. But we came out, and our bats started warming up and our pitchers were doing really great on the mound.”
