Leopards Rally Back Twice to Push Past Perry 8-7 – Softball
Louisville 8, Perry 7
The Louisville Leopards rallied back from a multi-run deficit twice in downing the Perry Panthers 8-7 in the second game of a tri-header at Hillsdale Saturday. With the victory, Louisville stays undefeated now at 6-0.
Rylie Squire smacked a 3-run triple in the bottom of the fifth to give the Leopards an 8-7 advantage they would not relinquish. Squire was accompanied on offense by Kaycee Ollis, Shae Thomas, and Lexi Zavarelle who also had multi-hit games.
Louisville found themselves in a 4-0 hole early as Perry went yard twice. Rylee Pireu hit a solo homer to center in the first, Gia Durieux drove in Alycia Cunningham in the second, and Payton Gottshall hit a 2-run dinger to center in the third
The Lady Leopards quickly erased that deficit with their first of two 4-run innings in the game. Lauren Bennett and Zavarelle both singled to start the third and Sydney McKeever loaded the bases after attempting a sacrifice. Teagan Rice got Louisville on the board with a sacrifice fly to center bringing home Bennett from third. Next, Ollis delivered a 2-run line drive single to center scoring Zavarelle and McKeever. Thomas ripped a triple to right field on the next pitch to bring Ollis to the plate knotting the game at 4-4.
The Panthers answered immediately in the top of the fourth when they scored three 2-out runs. Sunshine Armstrong cracked a 2-run single scoring Maddie Johnston and Riley Lesh. Then Gottshall reached on an error allowing Armstrong to come home from second to give Perry a 7-4 advantage.
Two quick outs doomed the Leopards offense in the fourth, but the first 5 Louisville batters reached base to start their comeback bid in the fifth. Rice singled to left and Ollis walked on four pitches to start the frame. Then Thomas hit the next pitch to center field allowing Rice to score from second. Sarah Cantley walked on five pitches to put the ducks on the pond. Squire cleared them out with a fly ball 3-run triple to right field to give the Leopards their first and final lead of the game at 8-7.
Perry threatened with back-to-back singles to start the sixth. But Cantley retired 6 of the final 7 Panthers batters to clinch the victory for Louisville. Cantley threw 4.2 innings in relief, gave up 0 earned runs on 4 hits, and struck out 5 to earn her fifth victory of the year.
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VARSITY SOFTBALL BOX SCORE
LEOPARDS 8, PANTHERS 7
Team 123-456-7–R-H-E
Perry 112-300-0–7-9-1
Louisville 004-040-X–8-10-5
PERRY PANTHERS SOFTBALL VARSITY BATTING STATS
| Lineup | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R Lesh | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| R Pireu | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| S Armstrong | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| P Gottshall | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| M Snyder | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| M Durieux | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| A Cunningham | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| G Durieux | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| K Dietrick | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| M Holzopfel | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| M Holzopfel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| M Johnston | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| B Borck | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Z Jasinski | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Totals | 36 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
PERRY PANTHERS SOFTBALL VARSITY PITCHING STATS
| Pitching | IP | #P | S% | H | R | ER | SO | BB | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M Durieux | 4.0 | 75 | .693 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| M Holzopfel | 0.0 | 16 | .312 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| P Gottshall | 2.0 | 25 | .840 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 6.0 | 116 | .672 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 0 |
LOUISVILLE LEOPARDS SOFTBALL VARSITY BATTING STATS
| Lineup | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney McKeever | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Teagan Rice | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Kaycee Ollis | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Shae Thomas | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Riley Bobo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sarah Cantley | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Ashley Zifer | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rylee Squire | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Ellie Jackson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Alex Fankhauser | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Lauren Bennett | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lexi Zavarelle | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 26 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 7 |
LOUISVILLE LEOPARDS SOFTBALL VARSITY PITCHING STATS
| Pitching | IP | #P | S% | H | R | ER | SO | BB | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shae Thomas | 2.1 | 39 | .615 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Sarah Cantley | 4.2 | 69 | .710 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 7.0 | 108 | .676 | 9 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
Records: Louisville 6-0
