The weekend’s simulated softball contest between neighboring foes Beavercreek and Carroll could be a treatise to explain the importance of not walking opposing batters.
Both teams smacked 17 hits.
But Carroll batters drew a whopping 17 walks — to four for Beavercreek — in a 20-10 run-ruled win in seven innings. Since Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays are playing most of their games in Buffalo, N.Y., due to coronavirus concerns, the weekend’s contest was held once again at the Rogers Centre.
All but one of the Carroll Patriots got a hit, and each player scored at least one run.
Mara Beam clouted a three-run home run in the second inning, as part of a 10-run scoring outburst that gave Carroll a 10-2 lead.
Beavercreek chipped away at the Pats’ lead, scoring four runs in the third and four more in the sixth, eventually tying the contest at 10 apiece.
But then Kaylee Stemmer gave Carroll the lead for good as she hit a grand slam in Carroll’s half of the sixth. Carroll then added two more runs on a Tinley Browning two-run homer.
The Patriots added five more runs, thanks in part to an inning-best six bases on balls, to win by run-rule in the seventh.
Lauren Heil came a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. She doubled and singled in the 10-run second to knock five runs in that inning, Heil tripled in the fifth, then singled in the sixth, before drawing a walk on her final at-bat in the seventh.
Ellie Trusty had three hits, with a pair of walks, an RBI and a couple runs scored, while Beam and Maddie Erby each got two hits in the win.
Carroll’s simulated record is now 2-3. The Patriots will take on Bellbrook next.
Beavercreek dropped to 2-2 with the loss.
Both Shelby Metzger and Alyssa Lewis went 4-for-5 at the plate for the Beavers. Metzger scored twice; Lewis scored twice while also driving in a pair of ‘Creek runs. Maddie Niebert had three hits, and reached on a fielder’s choice and a walk while scoring twice and driving in two others, while Azlynn Mims (two RBI) and Paige Weekley (two runs scored) had two hits each.
NEXT UP: Cedarville (0-4) takes on Fairborn (3-1) to wrap up the simulated fifth week of the softball season.
Baseball will follow with Legacy Christian-Greeneview, Cedarville-Beavercreek, Fairborn-Carroll, and Bellbrook-Yellow Springs on the schedule. Xenia (2-3) has the week six bye.
