FORTVILLE — Getting one run was nice, but it wasn’t exactly what the Greenfield-Central Cougars had in mind with a bases-loaded, no-out situation in the first inning.
The second time the Cougars loaded the bases, just an inning later, they made the most of it.
Greenfield-Central scored five runs in the second inning, jumping out to an early 6-0 lead that would be more than enough to get past Richmond in Monday’s sectional opener at Mt. Vernon. Lexi Rankin held the Red Devils to just three hits, and Greenfield-Central topped the Red Devils, 8-1, advancing to today’s semifinal round against county rival Mt. Vernon.
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“Lexi did the best job she’s done in a while of minimizing the amount of pitches she had to throw,” Greenfield-Central coach Jason Stewart said. “That’s what we needed tonight. If we’re going to have any chance of winning this, we needed her to have a quick game, keep her pitch count down and be pretty fresh for tomorrow. She did a good job of that. Walks were limited, she didn’t let them string hits together, and the defense played behind her.”
It was a similar start to the 2019 season-opener, where the Cougars scored three runs early in topping Richmond, 4-0. Just like that game, after some early success, the offense hit a wall.
The Cougars loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning with a walk, a single by Jessie Rankin and an error. Two groundballs were thrown home to get the lead runner out, and Emily Francis singled hard to left with two outs, driving in the only run of the inning.
Greenfield-Central loaded the bases in the second inning off singles from Madge Weidner and Kensie Bradley and a walk to Jessie Rankin. Lexi Rankin walked in a run and Caroline Gibson tripled to deep right field, clearing the bases and pushing the lead to 5-0. An error scored a sixth run.
“It felt like it was going to happen again, and luckily Caroline comes up with a big swing to clear ‘em,” Stewart said of stranding three in the first inning. “That almost just loosens you up. You just needed that one big play to loosen us up.”
After three scoreless frames, Jessie Rankin opened the sixth with a single and was brought home by a double from her sister, Lexi Rankin’s second RBI of the game. Ellie Ewald singled to score another run, ending the scoring for the Cougars.
Greenfield-Central finished with 12 hits to Richmond’s three. After the second-inning outburst, the Cougars managed just three hits and no runs over the next three innings, something Stewart said the team needs to improve on quickly.
“Offensively, we get six the first two innings and then we flatline for a couple of innings. That’s where we’ve got to get better,” Stewart said. “This team has got to find that killer instinct that we’ve talked to them about. When you get teams down, you’ve got to bury ‘em. You can’t just wait around and let them hang around, let them get back into it. Hopefully if we get that opportunity tomorrow, we do that.”
Lexi Rankin got the win in the circle, throwing 6.1 innings and allowing just three hits and one run. She struck out seven and walked one. Macie Fultz closed out the win by forcing a flyout and groundout.
Up next for the Cougars is a familiar foe in the Marauders, who topped Muncie Central, 16-0, in the second game Monday.
The Marauders topped the Cougars, 5-0, on April 26.
“We haven’t played our best ball for a while. You hope at some point it hits,” Stewart said. “That’s always your goal as a coach, to play your best ball this time of year. Hopefully it’s coming. We’ll find out tomorrow.”
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Greenfield-Central 8, Richmond 1
Richmond;000;001;0;—;1;3;3
Greenfield-Central;150;002;X;—;8;12;0
WP: Lexi Rankin. LP: Laurelai Depew.
3B: Caroline Gibson (GC). 2B: Lexi Rankin (GC). RBI: Gibson 3, Lexi Rankin 2, Emily Francis, Ellie Ewald (GC); Joanna Bowery (R).
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