Lady Leopards Sweep Past Explorers 12-0 and 7-6
Katie Cozy Walk-Off 3-Run Homer in Game 1
Game 1: Louisville 12, Hudson 0, 5 Innings
Katie Cozy went 3-for-4 with a walk-off 3-run homer and 4 RBI’s to lead the Lady Leopards past the visiting Hudson Explorers 12-0 in 5 innings. Brooke Cox also went 2-for-3 with 4 RBI’s and Gianna Falcone pitched a 5-inning shutout.
Louisville’s bats stayed quiet in the first inning, but exploded in the second. Singles by Jordan Monnot & Grace Jackson, as well as a four pitch walk to Keri Hupp loaded the bases for the Leopards with no outs. That’s when Brooke Cox delivered a base hit through the legs of the center fielder that cleared the bases and left her standing on third. Back-to-back singles by Amy Hooverand Shelby Swigert gave the Leps a 5-0 cushion.
The Lady Leopards machine continued with four more runs in the third inning. Jackson singled and later took home on a passed ball. Then Cox singled home Hupp, who had doubled earlier. Cox would later score on a passed ball as well. Then a two-out double by Swigert and an RBI single by Cozy led to a 9-0 lead.
Louisville went down in order in the fourth, but came alive again in the fifth. Hoover and Swigert singled aboard. Then Cozy launched her fourth home run of the year over the first row of cars in the parking lot. The walk-off home run is the second of her career (Alliance last year) and second by the Lady Leps in as many games. The three-run shot was also the 10th home run of Cozy’s career.
Perhaps even more impressive than the Louisville offense was their defense. In each of the first three innings the Explorers advanced a runner to third and in each of those innings they were blanked. In the second inning, Hudson had runners on 2nd and 3rd and nobody out before Louisville turned an extremely rare 2-7-6 double play. In the third inning, the Explorers loaded the bases with just 1 out. Falcone got a huge strikeout (1 of her 2 for the game) and the Leps got out of the inning 2 pitches later on a groundout.
Game 2: Louisville 7, Hudson 6
Chandler Rice hit a 3-run homer to match Hudson’s early lead and Louisville went on to defeat Hudson 7-6 in the second game of their Saturday doubleheader.
Unlike Game 1, the Lady Leps felt some resistance early on. The Explorers Aislinn Sharky hit a three-run homer to center field to put Hudson up 3-0. However the feat was matched in the bottom half of inning number one when Rice crushed a 3-run homer over the right-center field fence scoring both Amy Hoover and Katie Cozy. For Rice, it was the 20th home run of her career and she now has homered against the last three Leopards opponents.
Louisville tacked on three more runs in the second, all of which came with 2 outs in the inning. Brooke Cox doubled to start-up the offense. Then three straight RBI singles by Hoover, Shelby Swigert, and Cozy put the Leopards up 6-3.
After that, Hudson would tack on two more runs to get within 6-5. But later the 2011 NBC Player of the Year became a menace on the base paths. Rice singled, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and then scored on a dropped third strike. Her insurance run would prove to be needed as the Explorers scored again in the seventh. But the Lady Leopards would put out the final Hudson threat to take the game 7-6.
On the mound, Grace Jackson and Gianna Falcone each struck out three batters. With the victory, the Leps are now 10-1 on the season and they have won 18 out of their last 19 home contests.
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UP NEXT: The Lady Leopards will next travel to Jackson to play the Polar Bears on Monday, April 22 at 5:00 PM.
PICTURES
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STATISTICS
GAME 1: LEOPARDS 12, EXPLORERS 0, 5 INNINGS
123-45–R-H-E
Hudson 000-00–0-6-1
Louisville 054-03–12-16-1
Batting
Hoover | 2-3 | 2 1B, SAC, SB, RBI, 2 Runs
Swigert | 3-4 | 2B, 2 1B, SB, RBI, 2 Runs
Cozy | 3-4 | HR, 2 1B, 4 RBI’s, Run
Rice | 1-2 | 2B, SAC
Woolf | 1-3 | 1B
— Givens | 0-0 |
Monnot | 1-3 | 1B, Run
Jackson | 2-3 | 2 1B, 2 Runs
Hupp | 1-2 | 2B, BB, 2 Runs
Cox | 2-3 | 2 1B, 4 RBI’s, 2 Runs
Pitching
Falcone W (9-1) | 5 Innings, 24 AB, 2 Strikeouts, 3 BB, 6 Hits, 0 Runs, 1 HP
GAME 2: LEOPARDS 7, EXPLORERS 6
123-456-7–R-H-E
Hudson 301-100-1–6-10-0
Louisville 330-010-X–7-12-1
Batting
Hoover | 4-4 | 4 1B, 2 SB, RBI, 2 Runs
Swigert | 2-3 | 2 1B, SAC, SB, RBI, Run
Cozy | 2-4 | 2 1B, RBI, Run
Rice | 2-3 | HR, 1B, SB, 3 RBI’s, 2 Runs
Woolf | 0-3 |
— Givens | 0-0|
Monnot | 0-3 |
Jackson | 0-1 |
— Falcone | 0-2 | SAC
Zifer | 1-3 | 2B
Cox | 1-3 | 2B, Run
Pitching
Jackson | 2 Innings, 15 AB, 3 Strikeouts, 4 BB, 4 Hits, 4 Runs, 1 HP
Falcone | 5 Innings, 23 AB, 3 Strikeouts, 1 BB, 6 Hits, 2 Runs, 1 HP
JV Game 1: Hudson 15, Louisville 5, 5 Innings
JV Game 2: Louisville 16, Hudson 5, 5 Innings