Louisville Leopards at Lake Blue Streaks Softball 2011 Highlights
GAME 1: Louisville 9, Lake 1
The Lady Leopards wasted no time in making their presence known early on a cloudy day in Uniontown. Brittany Flanigan rocketed a double on the first pitch of the game. Emily Isla followed with a single and Desi Given loaded the bases with a walk. Then Chandler Rice planted the first pitch she saw over the center field fence for a Grand Slam. The Leopards continued to threaten, but failed to score again in an opening inning that brought every Louisville hitter to the plate.
The Lady Leps extended their advantage in the third inning when Shelby Swigert was singled in by Jordan Monnot, who was then doubled in by Flanigan. The Leopard clinic continued in the fourth inning when Carlee Baumgardner blasted a 2-run shot that cleared the center field fence and bounced off the nearby walking path to make it 8-1 Lady Leps.
Louisville’s final run of the first contest came in the sixth inning. Givens singled to right field then stole second base. Baumgardner then singled her home three batters later to put Louisville ahead by 8.
Flanigan again pitched a gem on the mound for Louisville. She gave up an early run, but then settled down and dominated for the rest of the game giving up just 5 hits and striking out 7.
GAME 2: Louisville 11, Lake 6
The Leopards to produce runs in the second game against the Blue Streaks. Ashley Horton broke the scoreless tie by blasting her first home run of the season that undoubtedly cleared the fence and one-hopped into the woods behind. Horton wasn’t finished though as she cracked a single that scored Flanigan and Isla in a 5-run third inning for the Leopards. The initial run in the inning came when Baumgardner was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded that scored Flanigan. Monnot also reached base after she hit a ground-ball through the legs of the Lake shortstop scoring both Baumgardner and Horton.
Lake put a 3-spot up in the bottom of the third inning, but that only made the Leps offense turn the heat up even more in the fourth. Louisville batted around the entire lineup for the second straight inning and cushioned their lead with four more runs. A bases loaded infield hit by Rice was enough to score the speedy Flanigan from third to start the scoring. A bloop single by Swigert scored Isla and kept the bases loaded for Baumgardner who, for the second straight inning, drove in a run with a free pass to first.
Next, Rice came a tad bit too far off third base and the Lake catcher threw a rope to the third baseman. But, instead of even attempting to go back to third, Rice ran straight home and when the dust had cleared the Leopards were safe on all accounts of their triple steal and ended the inning up by more than a half dozen.
The Blue Streaks shrunk the Louisville lead to 10-6 with their second straight three-run inning of the contest. However, the unhittable Flanigan came on in relief and shutout Lake for the final three innings. The Leopards tacked on another insurance run when a Rice sac fly brought home Isla to change the away lights on the scoreboard one final time.
Back-to-back looking strikeouts by Flanigan in the seventh left the Leopards an 11-6 winner and still undefeated.
PICTURES (JV and Varsity Combined)
BOX SCORE:
Game 1:
LEOPARDS 9 BLUE STREAKS 1
Louisville 402 201 0 — 9 12 0
Lake 100 000 0 — 1 5 1
PITCHING: WP—Flanigan 3-0. LP—Hutcherson 2-1. HITTING: HRs—Louisville: Rice (2), Baumgardner (2).
GAME 2:
LEOPARDS 11, BLUE STREAKS 6
Louisville 015 410 0 — 11 7 0
Lake 003 300 0 — 6 9 3
WP—Falcone 2-0. LP—King 0-1. HRs—Louisville: Horton (1).
Records—Louisville 5-0, Lake 4-2.
NEXT UP: The Lady Leps will host North Canton Hoover Monday at 5:00 PM.
JV: GAME 1: Louisville 9, Lake 7, 8 innings. GAME 2: Louisville 14, Lake 3. See Varsity Section Above for Pictures and Video.
