The Lady Bisons softball team toppled their red-and-blue rivals, the Belmont Bruins, in a commanding 13 – 2 win in five innings Tuesday night at Draper Diamond.
“We’ve had some good games with them the last several years,” Lipscomb coach Kristin Ryman said. “Today offensively, I thought we just took over.”
Jordan Fortel started the scoring for the Lady Bisons with a two-run shot over the left field wall in the bottom of the first, bringing home Graysen Gladden who lead off with a single and stole second.
At the top of the second inning, the Bruins pitcher, Brooklin Lee redeemed herself with a two-run homer of her own. The redemption home run was the first of her collegiate career.
Lipscomb responded in full force at the plate in the bottom of the second. Peyton Ward was walked, stole second and advanced to third when the Bruins’ catcher threw it out of reach the second baseman. Destinee Brewer was walked on the following at bat and stole second. Then, Gladden tripled to center to drive home Ward and Brewer to take back a two-run lead.
Gladden made the short trip from third to home on an Abby Fenichel single.
Alicia Veltri relieved Lee on the mound but proceeded to walk the next two batters, loading the bases. Caitlin Plocheck tied a bow on the second inning with three-run RBI double to right.
“Anytime you punch first and the other team punches right back, you find out what you’re made of,” coach Ryman said of the early onslaught of offense. “And I thought we really exploded offensively.”
Belmont’s offense made a strong push in the third inning but wasn’t able to execute. After a double, a single and a walk loaded the bases, Hayley Baker grounded out to second on a 2 – 2 count.
In the bottom of the third, Gladden stole second after a walk putting her in scoring position. Gladden sped across home plate on a two-out single dropped into right field by Fenichel to make it 9 – 2.
While the Lady Bisons’ offense ran up the score, their defense was not lacking. It was three up, three down for the Bruins in the top of the fourth facing Jordan Fortel. Fortel earned the win for Lipscomb with three hits, two strikeouts and no runs at the mound.
Relentless Lipscomb batting pushed the game out of reach in the bottom of the fourth. RBIs from Jenna Pearlor and Plocheck brought in two runs, and two runs were scored off of wild pitches. This made it 13 – 2.
The ten-run-rule came into effect to end the game on solid closing pitching from Fortel at the top of the fifth.
The Lady Bisons play a three game weekend series at home against Florida Gulf Coast starting with a double header on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics