Flanigan Fans 14 in 7-0 Shutout of McKinley
Louisville 7, McKinley 0
Brittany Flanigan struck out a career-high 14 batters during her one-hit shutout of the McKinley Bulldogs Monday evening at a windy Mason Elementary School Field. Carlee Baumgardner and Jordan Monnot also each had two hits to help Louisville improve to 13-3 on the year.
The wind kept the ball down and the bats silent through the first two innings, but Louisville tacked on the first run of the contest in the top of the third. Baumgardner singled to left to start the inning before taking second base on a wild pitch. A single by Emily Isla two batters later put runners on the corners with just one down. Then Katie Cozy rocketed a fly ball to center field that allowed Baumgardner to tag and score.
A little later, the Leopards tacked on two more runs in the top of the fourth. Amy Hoover grounded a single to left-center and 
then stole second base. Monnot then cracked a pop-up that landed just inside the right field foul line for a double bringing Hoover across the plate. After the relay throw, Monnot stood just 60 feet from home plate herself. After a sacrifice fly to center by Shelby Swigert, Monnot avoided the catcher’s diving tag and tapped her foot on the plate. 3-0 Lady Leopards.
Louisville extended their advantage to 5-0 later on in the sixth inning. Monnot led off the inning with a walk and look to have scored on Swigert’s blast down the right-field line. However, the umpires ruled that the ball bounced out of play and thus a ground rule double was called. Swigert, who was standing on third after McKinley’s relay throw, had to return to second and Monnot back to third. Monnot was then tagged out after trying to score on a wild pitch. A bad break fo the Leps, but Swigert still advanced to third.
The speedy Baumgardner then laid down a perfectly placed bunt single that allowed Swigert to come home for another run. Not only did Baumgardner beat the throw at first, but she followed that up by stealing second base. A single by Flanigan put runners on the corners, before Isla’s sac fly allowed Baumgardner to score her second run of the game. Then Brooke Cox, who was pinch-running for Flanigan, scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-0 Leopards.
Louisville added on an insurance run in the seventh inning from Chandler Rice through the pinch-hitting Gianna Falcone. Rice doubled to start the inning and then Falcone provide the RBI single that scored Rice to make it 7-0 Leopards.
Flanigan, who had remained hot all day in the circle, was lights out in the bottom of the seventh. She struck out the side to give her a career-high 14 strikeouts for the game and quite possibly a school record. More impressively, during 7 of her 14 strikeouts the batters were watching. Flanigan also allowed just one hit and four baserunners for the entire contest.
Louisville is now 21-9 against Canton McKinley all-time and have taken 11 of the last 12 meetings from the Lady Bulldogs. The Leopards will return to NBC play Tuesday when they host Marlington before traveling to Alliance on Thursday.
PICTURES
Box Score
Team 123-456-7–R-H-E
Louisville 001-203-1–7-11-0
McKinley 000-000-0–0-1-3
Flanigan | 1-4 | SB
— Cox | 0-0 | SB, Run
Isla | 1-3 | Sac Fly, RBI
Cozy | 1-3 | Sac Fly, RBI
Rice | 1-4 | 2B, SB
Woolf | 0-2 | BB
— Falcone | 1-1| RBI
Hoover | 1-3 | BB, 2 SB, Run
Monnot | 2-2 | 2B, BB, RBI, Run
— Zifer | 0-1 |
– Swigert | 1-2 | 2B, Sac Fly, RBI, Run
– Baumgardner | 2-3 | SB, RBI, 2 Runs
Records: Louisville 13-3
NEXT UP: The Lady Leps will next host the Marlington Dukes on Tuesday, April 17 at 4:30 PM. JV will also host the Dukes at the same time. Louisville is 20-27 against Marlington all-time, but has won last 4 over the Dukes. The most recent win over Marlington came on April 28, 2011 when the Leopards won 11-1 in 5 innings.
JV REPORT
Louisville 18, McKinley 5, 5 innings
No Report.
