Quinn, Bauer homers spark Wildcats in sweep of Paola

PAOLA — The Louisburg softball team was in the midst of an 8-game losing skid going into Tuesday’s doubleheader against Paola.

Nothing a like a little rivalry game to cure whatever ails you.

The Wildcats saw their streak to come to an end as Louisburg cruised to a 9-2 and 12-3 victory over the Panthers in Paola. 

Two wins over a rival and starting a new winning streak was a cause for celebration for a Louisburg softball team that needed something positive to go its way heading into the postseason.

“We were clicking on all cylinders,” Louisburg coach Nick Chapman said. “Every one of our nine girls contributed to the success of our team and our dominating wins. We played to our ability finally and we saw what happens when we do that.

“Beating Paola is always nice and the way we did it was even better. We were on quite a skid over these last couple of weeks, and after this weekend, the girls knew we needed to start making adjustments to get better. They did just that and I think you saw it in our bats. We had been struggling with slower pitching, but we finally made an adjustment and our bats exploded like they did in the beginning of the season.”

Two of those bats came up big for the Wildcats and it started with Megan Quinn. The Louisburg senior clubbed two home runs in the opener, including a grand slam, that helped the Wildcats to their game one win.

In the nightcap, it was Brynley Bauer’s turn. The Louisburg junior hit a grand slam of her own, and also finished with three hits in the game, including a double.

“Megan’s bat was a little cold over that 8-game skid,” Chapman said. “She needed a night like she had in the first game. To come up twice and put 2 over the fence was huge. Then in the second game when it was close, Brynley came up clutch. She has been in and out of the lineup throughout this season, but she has never stopped working hard and it payed off big time. I’m so proud of her.”

To go along with the timely offense, the Wildcats also thrived in the field. Louisburg didn’t commit an error in either contest and prevented the Panthers from getting any free runs. 

“When I told them that on the bus, they went wild,” Chapman said. “They normally don’t like practice after we have a night of errors, but they didn’t have to worry about that yesterday. That is a great accomplishment for this team. Again, we played to our ability and the result speaks for itself.”

Senior Izzy Moreland and Quinn took care of business on the mound as they each picked up a win.

Moreland got the complete game victory in the opener as she pitched seven innings and gave up just two runs on six hits. Moreland also tallied nine strikeouts.

Quinn got the start in the second game and went six innings. She gave up three runs on six hits and struck out five. Moreland came in for the final inning and struck out three.

“Our pitching and catching staff do such a great job,” Chapman said. “Izzy’s fastball always has a little bit more pop on it this time of the year, and it’s Paola when it starts doing that, and I’m glad she continued that. I wanted her to keep throwing it, but her and Brynley did a great job of mixing it up and kept their lineup guessing and off balance.

“Megan did a fantastic job of mixing up her pitches and keeping them off balanced. Her and Rylee (Hickey) are very smart and methodical calling pitches. She got a lot of pop ups and roll overs that our defense did some great things with. I love our pitching staff and how hard they work.”

Quinn got things going for Louisburg in the opener with a solo home run in the second inning and followed that up with a grand slam in the third to make it 5-0.

Seniors Ashley Moreau and Jenna Cauthon added two hits to help lead the Louisburg offense. Senior Rylee Hickey added an RBI.

In the nightcap, the game was tied at 4-all in the top of the fifth inning, when Bauer connected on a grand slam to help in the Wildcats in what turned out to be a 5-run inning.

Moreau, Cauthon, Quinn, sophomore Shyloh Waite and junior Addy Stohs each had two hits on the night, while Cauthon, Quinn and Waite each had 2 RBIs. Stohs also finished with a double.

Louisburg will try to make it three straight wins to end the regular season tonight as the Wildcats travel to Baldwin for a single game. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.