Power play: Mitchell softball ends skid with offensive explosion against Orleans
MITCHELL — As the third inning of Wednesday’s matchup between the Mitchell and Orleans softball team went on, the Bulldogs’ margin of error shrunk. The visitors trailed just 2-1, a manageable deficit, but the Bluejackets were on the warpath with their bats.
Caitlyn Mullis led off with a double, then stole third base. Page Mullis singled on a blooper to shortstop and took second base. Avery Southern ground out a walk, seeing eight pitches in the process.
Then, with no outs and the bases loaded, the Bulldogs handed Mitchell cleanup hitter Emerie Russell a powder keg primed to blow. The junior wasted no time in pushing the plunger.
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On the first pitch she saw, one mistakenly left over the plate, the slugger lunged forward, rotated her hips and snapped her wrists. The ball couldn’t seem to get out of the park quickly enough.
Mitchell’s one-run lead suddenly became a five-run lead. From that 6-1 advantage, the Bluejackets would take off and bury the Bulldogs 9-1 to pick up a win.
“I knew if they gave her something to groove we were going to score a couple of runs there,” Mitchell coach Stevie Canada said. “ She hit the ball very well today. I’m very proud of her. I’m very proud of all the girls.”
Bluejackets snap skid with big win
The victory was one that Mitchell needed in the worst way. After starting the season with a 9-3 record, the Bluejackets had dropped 5 games in a row to enter Wednesday's game at 9-8.
They'd faced some serious competition during that stretch, falling to Springs Valley, Bedford North Lawrence, Eastern (Pekin) and Loogootee, but their struggles were just as much about themselves as they were about the Bluejackets' competition.
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“I knew it was coming and it was slowly coming. Tonight I think the girls proved that they’ve been pressing,” Canada said. “They’re wanting to hit the ball so badly that they’re not waiting for the exact pitch to drive, but tonight I felt like everybody was waiting for that pitch.”
Cambree Cline shines for Orleans
Much of the offense that the Bulldogs were able to produce came courtesy of one player. Two of their five hits including their only extra base hit, a double, came off the bat of Cambree Cline.
The freshman catcher went 2-3 with a double and also drove in Orleans' lone run.
The biggest thing that aided Cline against Mitchell was approaching the plate in attack mode.
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“She went into the box ready to go hit no matter what we called,” Orleans coach Will Owens said. “She actually thought we were going to small-ball her and that was her attitude going into it, but we told her to hit instead. She’s been like that the past few games.”
Looking ahead
The loss is another bump in the road for Orleans (2-11, 1-4 PLAC). It was the Bulldogs' fourth loss in a row.
They'll try to get back on track on Thursday against Crawford County.
“We didn’t show up to play. We didn’t show up and we were out of it from the get-go,” Owens said. “You don’t come ready to play, you’re going to take a lot of lumps.”
Mitchell (10-8, 3-1 PLAC) will be glad to have its slump behind it, but the Bluejackets will have to gear up to play some tough teams in the coming weeks.
They'll take on South Central (Elizabeth) on Friday. That matchup should allow them to increase their momentum heading into bouts with West Washington, Bloomington South and Perry Central next week.
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“The girls just have to stay loose and stop pressing. Just letting the game come to them is helping matters as we saw tonight. We kind of figured it out a little bit. We’ll just tell them to relax in the box,” Canada said. “This is a good group. They’re already setting school records already. We’ll come out of it, we’ll be ready to play and we’ll be a tough team to beat.”
Contact Times-Mail sports reporter Auston Matricardi via e-mail at amatricardi@tmnews.com or on Twitter at @amatricardiTM.
This article originally appeared on The Times-Mail: Mitchell softball ends skid with offensive explosion against Orleans
