Lady Cats get road sweep of Osawatomie

Louisburg shortstop Alyse Moore stretches out to get a ground ball last week at home against Ottawa. On Thursday, the Lady Cats beat Osawatomie in two games on the road.

OSAWATOMIE – It wasn’t always easy for the Louisburg softball team on the road Thursday in Osawatomie, but the when the Lady Cats needed runs, a pair of Louisburg seniors came to the rescue.

Molly Rison collected seven hits in the two games, including three doubles, as she helped the Lady Cats to a 6-5 win in the opener and later came through again as Louisburg took the nightcap, 6-4.

Karson Griggs, along with Rison
provided a lot of the spark offensively in the second game as she tallied three
hits, including a double and a solo home run.

“Offensively, our seniors were able to
ignite their younger teammates with great at-bats,” Louisburg coach John Ozier
said. “We stranded runners all night, but were able to get just enough run
support to pull off two much-needed wins. Karson broke out of a mini-slump with
a towering home run in game two that got us going. Molly was consistent all
night with her great hitting.”

Louisburg jumped out on top in the opener
as it scored two runs in the third inning on an RBI single from Rison that
scored Madison Svoboda and Brooklyn Diederich followed that up with an RBI
single that scored Rison.

Osawatomie answered with three runs of its
own in the bottom of the third to take the lead, but it wouldn’t stay that way
for long.

The Lady Cats tied the game in the top of
the fourth on an RBI double from Rison that scored Laruen Cutshaw and then took
the lead in the top of the fifth. With Kayla Willey on third, Reilly
Ratliff-Becher bunted on a squeeze play to score Willey and then Alyse Moore
scored on a fielder’s choice a batter later to give Louisburg a 5-3 advantage.

“There is no more exciting play in
softball and the girls executed it to perfection,” Ozier said of the squeeze
play.

Eight of the nine Lady Cat players
recorded a hit in the opener. Rison finished with three hits, while Cutshaw and
Svoboda each had two hits.

Diederich kept the Lady Cats in the game
on the mound as she pitched a complete game and gave up just two earned runs on
seven hits and struck out three.

Pitching was strong again in the second
game as freshman Mia Wilson started and allowed one earned run in five innings.
Diederich came on to pitch the final two innings as she gave up two unearned
runs on three hits.

“I thought Coach (Megan) Balke did a nice job calling pitches all
night long,” Ozier said. “Brooklyn had a great night locating her pitches in
game one. She really battled when Osawatomie made a few runs at us.

“In game two, Mia came out firing and had great stuff, keeping
their hitters off balance through five innings. When she wavered late, Brooklyn
picked up where she left off in game one. She was able to get their hitters to
hit her pitches to certain locations that gave our defense a chance.”

Louisburg (5-10) got out to a great start
in the nightcap as it scored four runs in the top of the first inning and added
another in the third to go up 5-0. 

Rison had a two-run double, Diederich had
an RBI double and Willey had an RBI single to account for the runs in the first
inning. Griggs hit a solo home run in the third to keep the momentum going.

The Trojans tried to rally as it scored two runs in the fourth and two more in the seventh, but the Lady Cats were able to hold off the Osawatomie charge.

“Overall, our defense was outstanding,”
Ozier said. “There were so many great plays turned in by our infielders,
outfielders, and catchers that it would take all day to recognize each one of
them. We did have to battle to the final out in both games. Osawatomie had
runners in scoring position at the end of both games that could have won it for
them. Our defense and pitching dug in and finished strong.”

Along with Rison’s and Griggs’
performance at the plate, Paige Eccher and Alyse Moore each had two hits to
help the cause and Eccher added a double.

Louisburg will try and keep its winning
streak going Thursday when it travels to Garnett for a doubleheader with
Anderson County. First pitch is set for 4:30 p.m.

OTTAWA SWEEPS LOUISBURG

The Louisburg softball team had its hands
full with a power-hitting Ottawa program when the Lady Cats hosted the Cyclones
on April 16.

Ottawa scored nine runs to begin the
opener, and the Cyclones got out to an early lead in the nightcap, as they
handed the Lady Cats a 13-8 and 7-4 defeat.

In the opener, the Cyclones scored four
runs in the first and five in the second to take a 9-0 lead, but the Lady Cats
didn’t back down as they scored three in the bottom of the third to try and get
back in it.

Ottawa answered with three more in the
fourth to all but seal the win for the Cyclones despite a four-run fourth
inning from Louisburg.

Louisburg senior Madison Svoboda led the Lady Cat offense with a pair of hits and an RBI, while Molly Rison and Karson Griggs both finished with a hit and 2 RBIs. Griggs and Kayla Willey had the lone extra base hits as each finished with a double, while Willey scored three runs.

Lauren Cutshaw also had an RBI base hit
and scored two runs along with Svoboda.

In the nightcap, Ottawa took a 3-0 lead
in the second inning and never looked back. The Lady Cats did try to rally in
the bottom of the seventh with three runs, but couldn’t get any closer despite
pounding out 14 hits.

Rison had three hits and a double to lead
the way for Louisburg, while Alyse Moore, Paige Eccher, Cutshaw and Svoboda all
added two hits each. Brooklyn Diederich, Moore and Willey each had RBIs.