ANSONIA – The Ansonia bats were hot, pounding out 14 hits in the Lady Tigers’ 13-3 WOAC run rule win over the visiting Newton Lady Indians softball team.
“We finally got a game we wanted,” said Ansonia coach David Fisherback. “We played Marion Local Monday night, didn’t come out and play Tiger ball. We worked on a lot of hitting last night, and you can see the benefits of that hitting.”
“They’re a good team and I was glad to play them,” said Newton coach Kayla McEldowney. “Obviously, we did not play our best game. We’re young at some spots, and it exposed some weaknesses that we have to work on within the next two weeks, so we are ready for the tournament.”
Newton entered the night with a 15-3 (3-2) while Ansonia entered the night standing at 7-8 overall and 3-2 in the conference.
The Lady Tigers got on the board in the bottom of the first with a two-out single off the bat of Ava Thatcher and an Addie Geyer two-run homer over the centerfield fence.
The teams went quietly in the second before Ansonia tacked on two third-inning runs with a two-out Thatcher single, a Geyer double, and a Miley Walls 2-RBI double for an Ansonia 4-0 lead.
“We come out and put the ball in play, good things happened, hustled, played pretty good defense,” Fisherback stated. “We’re getting where we want to go.”
Newton dented the board in the top of the fourth, taking advantage of an Ansonia error, a Brynnasen Fiely single to center, and a run-producing Audrey Miller groundout.
Inning No. 4 proved to be the big inning at the plate for the Lady Tigers, scoring seven runs to lead 11-1 after four complete. Big hits in the inning included an Avalyn Locke double, a Lillian Kaiser 2-run homer, a Kylie Caldwell double, Shyann McKenna and Jayda Mangen singles, Caldwell and McKenna scoring on steals of home, and Geyer and Walls run-scoring doubles.
Newton got two runs back in the top of the fifth with a Cori Haines walk and a 2-RBI home run off the bat of Layla VanCulin to deep center for an 11-3 score.
“Newton is a very good team,” Fisherback said. “They come back and score a couple of runs; they have a lot of good hitters.”
Ansonia plated two runs in the bottom of the fifth with a McKenna single, three consecutive walks, producing a run, and a walk-off Walls run-scoring single to center, giving the Lady Tigers the conference win.
“We’ve played a lot of games, lose the focus here or there, then we make an error, and when it rains, it pours sometimes with young kids, and that’s ok,” said Coach McEldowney. “We will keep working hard and trying to get better so we are ready to go for other big games coming up and then the tournament.”
“Just putting the ball in play and hitting the ball and hustling,” Coach Fisherback said. “We have a lot of speed on the base paths, and we try to take advantage of that. It was a good win for Tiger Country.”
Bre’anna Walker went the distance for Ansonia on the mound, allowing two earned runs, three hits, five walks while striking out three.
“Bri Walker pitched a good game for us, hitting her spots,” Fisherback said. “They come back and scored a couple of runs, they have a lot of good hitters.”
For Ansonia, Geyer was 3-3 with a walk, 4 RBIs, one run; Walls 3-4, 4 RBIs, one run; Thatcher 2-3 with a walk, two runs; McKenna 2-4, 2 runs; Mangen 1-3 with a walk; Locke 1-2 with a walk, 1 RBI, one run; Kaiser 1-3, 2 RBIs, one run; Caldwell 1-3, 1 run.
For Newton, VanCulin 1-2 with a walk, 2 RBIs, one run; Ella Bayer 1-2; Fiely 1-2.
With the win, Ansonia improves to 8-8 overall and 4-2 in conference play. Newton goes to 15-4 and 3-3 in the WOAC.
BOX SCORE:
123 456 7 R H E
000 12X X 3 3 0 Newton
202 72X X 13 14 1 Ansonia
