Josie Lemmons
Columbus North and Columbus East got off to slow starts in Saturday’s North Invitational, but after a couple of innings, both the Bull Dogs and Olympians were near the top of their games the rest of the day.
The Class 4A No. 2 Bull Dogs overcame an early 3-0 deficit to beat North Harrison 12-5 in the morning and got a one-hit shutout from Maddi Rutan in a 10-0 win against South Bend Adams in the afternoon to go 2-0 for the day.
East dropped its first game to Connersville 11-8 before bouncing back to beat Adams 6-5 in eight innings and North Harrison 15-2 in six innings to finish 2-1 in the tournament.
In Columbus North’s opener, North Harrison jumped out to a 3-0 lead against Payton Morris in the first inning. But the Bull Dogs got a grand slam from Josie Lemmons in the second to get things going. Morris allowed four runs (one earned) in four innings, and Bailee Scruggs gave up one run over the final three frames.
“Payton hadn’t pitched for about a week or so, and she got off to a little bit of a rough start,” Columbus North coach Ron McDonald said. “But we knew that we’d come back, and she settled in, and then Bailee came in and just did a wonderful job. They both settled in and did a great job, and then Maddi was bringing it in that second game.”
Against Adams, Rutan allowed a single leading off the game, then retired 15 of the last 16 batters she faced, with the one reaching on an error. Rutan finished with 13 strikeouts.
Lemmons went 4 for 4 with five stolen bases in that game.
“I thought we hit fantastic in that second game,” Lemmons said. “We were all getting really solid contact, and we were just finding holes really well. We’ve always come out really badly in these tournaments, so seeing that we were able to hit as well as we did was really good. I’m really proud of the way that we produced today.”
Kelsey Lovelace went 2 for 3 with a triple and two RBIs in the opener and 2 for 2 with two RBIs in the second game. Kirsten Danford went 2 for 4 with three RBIs in the opener and had two RBIs in the second game. Morris went 3 for 3 with a double in the second game for the Bull Dogs (21-1-1).
“We’ve been hitting the ball real well,” McDonald said. “Sometimes, we have a little bit of a down game, but this is the best hitting team I’ve ever had, and when they start stringing it together, if I go through twice or three times through the lineup, we usually get the timing down and we explode. We’ve been really fortunate to do that, so we’re real happy at this point.”
Meanwhile, East fell behind Connersville 11-0 after three innings of its opener before rallying with eight runs to make it close. Addy Ross and Megan Kennedy each went 3 for 4 with two RBIs, Kaylee Cole went 2 for 3 with a double and Kenzie Foster went 2 for 4.
The Olympians led Adams 5-1 going to the bottom of the seventh before the Eagles scored four runs to send it to extra innings. East plated a run in the top of the eighth, then doubled a runner off third on a catch and tag by Cole in the bottom of the eighth. Foster went 3 for 4, Savanna Sullivan went 2 for 3 with a home run and Megan Kennedy went 2 for 4
In its third game of the day, East got a three-hitter from Kennedy against North Harrison. Foster and Cole each went 3 for 4 with two RBIs, Sullivan went 3 for 5 with four RBIs Joycee Redman went 2 for 2, Ross went 2 for 3 with two RBIs, Kennedy went 2 for 3 with two doubles and Maryn Mayes had a double and two RBIs.
Herimone Robinson threw a nine-hitter in the second game against Adams for East (13-11).
“We got a little bit of a rough start the first ballgame, but after about the second or third inning, we settled down and played well, but they were too far out on us to catch back up,” East coach Rusty Brummett said. “The second game, I thought we were in control. They came back on us, but we executed in the top of the eighth and then when they got a runner over to third, Kaylee Cole did a nice job with that. Then in this ballgame, Megan Kennedy pitched really well the whole game, our bats kind of came alive and we hit the ball. When we can put pressure on the defense, when our pitching is in good shape and we’re playing good defense, we’re a pretty good ballclub.”
Kenzie Foster
Foster had eight stolen bases in the three games.
“I think in the field in the first game, we just weren’t on our best game the first couple innings,” Foster said. “I think if we could have prevented some of those runs, we could have come out with a win. But I think over the last two games, we all hit together 1-through-9 through the lineup. Everybody did their job. We got bunts down, and we were smart on the bases. We didn’t give up, which we tend to do sometimes, so I’m proud of everyone keeping their heads up after the first game and just getting some hits and winning.”
