ARCANUM – The Arcanum Lady Trojans swept a Saturday double header 6-2 and 7-3 over the visiting Versailles Lady Tigers in non-conference softball action.
“Two nice wins,” said Arcanum coach, Mike Morris. “We’ve been playing really well. I was hoping to split with Versailles today and we came out with two.”
The opening game Versailles took an early first-inning 1-0 lead and made it 2-0 in the top of the fourth. Arcanum got on the board with three runs in the bottom of the fourth to lead 3-2. The Lady Trojans tacked on three additional runs in the bottom of the fifth for a 6-2 advantage that would hold up for the finals score of the opening game.
“The first game we missed judged a ball in the fourth inning – dropped it,” said Versailles coach, Mark Voisard. “If we get out of the inning that’s still a 2-2 game. They capitalized on two errors that inning.”
Arcanum junior, Hannah Kendig went the distance to earn the win allowing one earned run on two hits and two walks while striking out nine.
“The first game, both pitchers did really good, they were both on,” Coach Morris noted. “We have to clean some things up on defense.”
Paige Burrell, Kenzie Byrne and Emilie Fout each collected 2-hits and Kaitlyn Toy knocked a single for the Arcanum.
Game two had Versailles once again jumping out to a 2-0 lead scoring a run in the top of the first and second-innings. Arcanum plated two runs in the bottom of the second to knot the score a 2-2. Arcanum made it a 3-2 game after three complete.
“They came out and got on top of us early both games,” Morris said. “We struggled and then we started getting our bunts down which is what we’ve been stressing all year. We finally got them down and put pressure on them.”
Arcanum made it a 7-2 game scoring four runs in the bottom of the fifth with Versailles adding a run in the top of the seventh for a final 7-3 Lady Trojans win.
“We have to clean some things up on defense,” said Morris. “We have to clean some things up in the outfield. I can live with one or two errors a game but when you get three or four we’re going to be in trouble when we get towards the end of the tournament. Hopefully we can get that cleaned up and keep this thing rolling.”
Arcanum’s Kenzie Byrne drilled her sixth home run of the season to lead the WOAC while going 2-3 on the day with a RBI and a run scored. Brooklyn Ullery was 2-3 including a double, 3-RBIs and a run. Burrell, Fout, Grace Fry and Haley Smith each had singles for the Lady Trojans.
“Kenzie Byrne hit another home run, her sixth of the season,” said Coach Morris. “She’s seeing the ball.”
Belle Harleman pitched a complete game for Arcanum allowing 2-earned runs, 5-hits, 1-walk while striking out three.
Versailles was playing without its starting shortstop and their backup went to the bench in game No. 2 with an injury.
“The second game when Colleen (Hiestand) went down our whole team kind of deflated but overall I was pleased,” said Coach Voisard. “We had a couple freshmen we brought with us and they played. We’ll be all right. It’s just the nature of the beast. They capitalized on our misques and that’s the way the ballgame goes. We’ll be fine – we’ll be ready to play come tournament.”
