Rangers clamp down defensively to beat the Warriors
Published 10:40 pm Thursday, March 30, 2023
1 of 3
Star Photo/Ron Marvel Trinity Bowers fires the pitch home in the top of the 2nd inning; she would finish the game with no runs allowed and nine strikeouts.
Star Photo/Ron Marvel Makayla Miller sends the ball just foul down the first baseline.
Star Photo/Ron Marvel Unaka Lady Rangers HC Kenneth Chambers gathers his girls together before the bottom of the third, motivating them to get their bats going.
|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Ron Marvel
Star Correspondent
Trinity Bowers was on point Monday night as she threw a shutout, only giving up two hits and recording nine strikeouts with no walks for the Lady Rangers. When she wasn’t striking Warriors out, the Lady Rangers defense behind her was playing lights out, recording no errors on the evening. The Warriors were able to get a runner on second base in the first after a Reagan Street line drive to right field. She followed that up with a steal to get in scoring position, but Bowers was able to get the next batter with a looking strikeout to end the scoring threat.
Unaka’s Lyndie Ramsey got her team on the board first as she got a base hit off a blooper to right, she then stole second and home, but Jill Faust got caught leaning off second on a heads up play by Aleah Grindstaff to end the inning and making the score 1-0 Rangers. Bowers would retire the side in the second off three consecutive strikeouts. The Rangers would pick up another in the second as Mattie Salyer and Haley Gilman would get back-to-back singles, the Warriors would then induce a double play off the glove of Kinsley Harris, but Salyer would scoot home on that double play.
The Rangers would take advantage of a couple of Warriors miscues and their team speed to put up five in the fourth inning to distance themselves. Back-to-back to-back singles off groundballs from Faust, Bowers and Maddie Salyer would find grass to set the table for a five run inning and a 7-0 Ranger lead. The Warriors would hit three groundballs of their own the next inning but these would find leather, not grass as Faust would make a nice play at first and Bowers would field a shot back to the mound off the bat of Trista Bowers to get out the inning.
The Rangers would pick up four more runs the next inning to put the game out of reach; on the night they would also have 12 stolen bases to keep the Warriors defense on their heels. Lyndie Ramsey, Jill Faust and Maddie Salyer recorded multiple hits on the night, and the Rangers would have nine base hits in total.
Ella Marvel would go the distance on the mound for the Warriors, giving up five earned runs with no walks on the night. Seniors Reagan Street and Marvel would record the lone hits for the Warriors. After the game, Rangers Head Coach Kenneth Chambers would speak about his team’s performance, “we started off slowly but as the game wore on, we started making better contact and hitting the ball. I think we have struggled a bit because we have missed some games on our schedule due to the weather; being able to play error-free tonight was a big thing for us tonight, especially after our last couple of games.” Both teams will play on Thursday night as the Rangers will travel to Cocke County and the Warriors will host conference foe Chuckey-Doak.
