Lady Cats split with Prairie View to get first win of season

By Andy Brown
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Updated: April 10, 2018

Andy Brown / Louisburg Sports Zone

Louisburg’s Karson Griggs scoops up a ground ball during a game earlier this season. The Lady Cats traveled to Prairie View High School on Thursday and left with their first win of the season.

LA CYGNE – The Louisburg High School softball team was staring at the possibility of losing three straight games to start the season.

Down a run in the seventh inning Thursday against Prairie View, the Lady Cats had to get something going offensively. Louisburg got just enough as it scored a run in the seventh to force extra innings, then the Lady Cats exploded for five runs in the ninth for a 6-1 victory over the Buffalos.

Although Louisburg fell 12-7 in the second game of the doubleheader at Prairie View, the Lady Cats were excited to get that first win on the board.

“Even though it is early in the season, we were hungry for a win,” Louisburg coach John Ozier said. “This team has already faced a tremendous amount of adversity with all of the injuries and health issues our players have endured. Our defense and pitching was outstanding in game one. We stranded a number of runners, so we knew it would come down to our last few at bats.”

In the opener, Prairie View broke open a scoreless game in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead, but the Lady Cats would answer right back in the seventh as they were down to their final three outs.

Alyse Moore and Paige Eccher both reached on errors to start the inning and Moore scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly from Shayla Meyer.

The game went into extra innings, but the Lady Cats (1-3) would get things going in the ninth. Meyer scored the go-ahead run on an RBI single and Eccher would later score on a passed ball. Then with the bases loaded, Molly Rison drove in three runs with a double to centerfield.

“When Prairie View scratched across a run in the bottom of the sixth, I felt like our girls demonstrated great composure in our last at bat,” Ozier said. “I was proud of the way we battled into the extra innings and finally got the big hit we were looking for with Molly’s double.”

Along with a pair of RBIs, Meyer gave the Lady Cats the pitching they had been looking for. She pitched all nine innings and Meyer was able to work out of trouble as she gave up just one unearned run on eight hits.

“Shayla did a fantastic job of hitting her spots and showing great composure with runners on base,” Ozier said.

Karson Griggs led the Lady Cat bats in the opener with three hits, including a double. Madison Svoboda also walked twice and scored a run.

Prairie View didn’t waste much time getting going in the nightcap as it scored nine runs in the first five innings, but the Lady Cat offense came to life in the sixth.

Louisburg scored seven runs in the frame as it cut the Prairie View lead to just two, but the Buffalos added three more in the sixth to hold off the rally.

Mistakes hurt the Lady Cats in the nightcap as they committed five errors and gave up 12 hits to the Buffalo offense.

Lauren Cutshaw and Griggs had a big outing at the top of the Louisburg lineup. Griggs finished with a pair of doubles, while Cutshaw recorded a single, a double and 2 RBIs. Eccher and Moore also had RBI hits for Louisburg.

“Game two was equally as frustrating with our inability to push across runs with some timely hitting,” Ozier said. “Through the first five innings we stranded 12 runners. We closed the gap with the tying runs on base, but we ran out of gas and Prairie View pushed across a couple of more runs to end our rally.

“I was extremely proud of how the girls came back in game one, but equally as proud for the comeback in the second game. They stuck together and battled hard.”