The Lakers softball team played host to the Bryant & Stratton Bobcats today at Laker field and completed the season series sweep by beating the Bobcats 6-5 and 5-2. The Lakers softball team has won 9 in a row and 11 of their last 12 games to push their record to 12-5-1 (12-3-1). Game one was tight throughout. In the botom of the 1st, Lakeland's Casey McHugh and Lindsey Fergus got things going with consecutive singles. McHugh later scored on a passed ball. With the score 1-0, Bailey Cravens stepped up and ripped an RBI single to increase the lead to 2-0. The Bobcats took advantage of some sloppy defensive play in the top of the 2nd and scored 2 runs to even the score. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, the Lakers regained the lead after Megan Wallace got things started with a single. She advanced to second on a fielder's choice by Georgia Biggs and later scored on an RBI-single from Casey McHugh. The Bobcats tied it back up in the top of the 3rd inning. Lakeland regained the lead again in the home half of the 4th inning with Wallace reaching base again on another single. Mchugh would follow with a single to put the runners at the corners. Lindsey Fergus picked up the RBI on a fielders choice. The Bobcats would answer again with a game tying home run in the top of the 5th inning. The score would remained tied until the bottom of the 6th inning when the Lakers would add two crucial runs. Megan Wallace was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Casey McHugh would single to put runners at the corners. After McHugh stole second base, Tatianna Matuz ripped a base hit into right field to score both runners and give the Lakers a 6-4 lead. From there, the game got interesting. The Bobcats started the top of the 7th inning with 2 consecutive singles. Lakers catcher Mia Cipriano then threw a bullet to second after a pitch and picked off the unsuspecting Bobcat runner. That turned into a critical play as the next batter would plate the the remaining runner on a base hit. With a runner on 2nd, Lakeland would pitch around the dangerour 3-hole hitter for the Bobcats by walking her. With runners now on 1st and 2nd and 1 out, the next batter would hit a ground ball to Lakeland's second baseman, Bailey Cravens. Cravens fielded it clean and ran down the base runner and tagged her for the second out. With two outs and runners at the corner, Megan Wallace took charge and struck out the final Bobcat for the win.
The Lakers finished the game with 12 hits. Casey McHugh was a perfect 4-4 with an RBI and 2 runs scored. Megan Wallace was 2-2 and scored 3 runs. Bailey Cravens finished the game 2-4 with an RBI. Megan Wallace earned the complete game victory pitching 7 innings allowing 5 runs (2 earned) while striking out 8 batters.
Game 2 was an early battle before the Lakers pulled away to seal the win. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, Mia Cipriano would give the Lakers a 1-0 lead by hitting her 6th home run of the year. The Bobcats would tie it in the top of the 3rd as they took advantage of a Lakeland error. Lakeland's defense tightened up though as they turned two important double plays in the 3rd and 4th innings. In the 3rd inning, the Bobcats had the bases loaded with one out. The next batter then hit a line drive back to Madison Tatka on the mound. Tatka calmly snared it and then fired to 3rd base to double up the runner and end the inning. In the 4th inning, the Bobcats had runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out. This time, Lakeland pitcher Bailey Cravens through a swinging strike 3 pitch in the dirt for the first out. Catcher Mia Cipriano did a nice job blocking the ball and then fired it to 1st base to pick off the Bobcat runner. Cravens would then got out of he inning by throwing a groundball to shortstop Lindsey Fergus as she completed the nice defensive play. In the home half of the 4th inning, the Lakers would explode for 4 runs. Tatianna Matuz would hit a long double that would bounce away from the Bobcat right fielder. Matuz would then score on a Bailey Cravens single. After Cipriano was hit by a pitch, Madison Tatka would double home two runs. She would later score on a RBI-single from Gina Grandini.
Lakeland finished with 7 hits in game two - including 3 doubles and 1 home run. Madison Tatka started on the mound and went 3+ innings allowing 5 hits and 1 unearned run. Bailey Cravens relieved and picked up the win as she pitched 4 innings and allowed 3 hits and 1 earned run.
Morganti Mentions: "I continued to be pleased with our effort and energy level. It was the first warm day of the year and we handled it well. Everyone is contributing on the team which makes it really nice. Game 1 was a good game - we really had to battle and we made some good defensive and offensive plays. It was an emotional win, so I was really happy that we kept our level of play up in game 2. That was a nice series win against an improving Bobcat team. Our pitchers also did a really nice job the whole weekend."
Next Up: On Monday, the Lakers will travel to Springfield to complete a game with the Clark State Eagles. The game 1 continuation is from a rain halted game earlier in the season and has the Lakers trailing 9-5 in the top of the 5th inning. After that game is completed, they will play a complete second game. The games are scheduled to begin at 3:30 pm.
