Lady Leopards Tame Lions 8-2, Close in on Title

By Leopard Nation · Published April 27, 2012 · Updated April 28, 2012

Carlee Baumgardner Louisville Lady Leopards Vs. Minerva Lions Softball

FULL VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

Louisville 8, Minerva 2

Chandler Rice went 3-for-4 with a triple, 2 RBI’s, and scored 2 runs to help lead the Lady Leopards to an 8-2 win at Minerva Friday evening. Brittany Flanigan also pitched a complete game & struck seven as Louisville moved to 18-3 overall and 10-0 in the NBC.

Unlike most games, Louisville played from behind to start the contest. Cara Kunz’s 2-run single in the bottom of the first scored both Mayson Hardgrove and Rachel Eberling to give the Lions an early 2-0 lead.

The Lady Leopards answered back immediately in their next at-bat. Annie Woolf led off with a double to right field and Shelby Swigert drew a six-pitch walk. With the table set, Jordan Monnot moved the pieces with an RBI double that just cleared the glove of the center fielder. Woolf scored on the play and Swigert scored two pitches later when Amy Hoover hit a sacrifice fly the left field. Just like that it was a new ball game at 2-2.

Louisville added two more runs in the top of the third to take their first lead of the contest. Emily Isla walked to start the inning. Then Rice found a gap in center and the ball rolled all the way to the wall landing her with an RBI triple. Next, Woolf laid down a sacrifice bunt to score the speedy Rice from third to put the Lady Leps up 4-2.

Louisville tacked on an additional run in the fifth when a Swigert groundout brought home Katie Cozy. Then the Lady Leps summed up three more runs in the sixth to take a commanding 8-2 lead. Hoover was first aboard with a single. She then advanced to second on a groundout and stole third. After a second out, Isla doubled home Hoover to put Louisville up by four runs.

After that, Isla stole third base and then scored when Cozy popped a fly ball past the left fielder and came in standing with a double. Rice then singled home Cozy to finish off the Leopards scoring.

With the win, the Lady Leopards have now shrunk the magic number to 2 to secure their fourth straight NBC title and 3 to clinch the league outright. Louisville will host Salem Tuesday before traveling to West Branch for a possible banner-raising game on Thursday. The Lady Leps will also find out their sectional opponent this weekend at the tournament draw.