LEES CREEK – Kassidy Abney set a Blanchester High School record for homeruns in a career but it was Madison Creager’s first-inning blast Wednesday that set the tone.
Creager hit a three-run homer to kick off a 14-4 win over East Clinton in SBAAC National Division action.
Blanchester is 2-5 on the year and 2-2 in the National Division.
East Clinton slips to 3-3 overall and 0-3 in conference play.
Taylor Boeckmann, Jericka Boggs and Mackenzie Campbell had three hits each for East Clinton.
Kiera Brightman struck out seven and walked just one in 5.2 innings of relief pitching.
But the Ladycats took control of this one early. Three batters in to the game, Creager blasted a pitch over the fence for a 3-0 lead.
“Which was huge,” Grogg said. “When playing on the road, it is crucial to score early, to gain momentum from the start.
“We also executed the short game extremely well, getting several bunts down, which put some pressure on their defense early,” said Grogg.
Abney’s BHS record homerun came in the second inning and cleared both the softball fence and baseball fence at EC. She has 15 for her career.
Rianna Mueller had four hits, with two doubles at the plate, and pitched seven solid innings in the circle for the win.
“East Clinton did a nice job of putting the ball in play, but Rianna came up with big pitches in critical moments to get an out,” said Grogg. “More impressively, this is the second game in a row where she did not walk a batter.”
SUMMARY
April 3 2019
@East Clinton High School
Blanchester 14 East Clinton 4
BL 460.210.1…..14
EC 001.030.0…..4
(14) BLANCHESTER (ab-r-h-rbi) Abney 4-4-2-2 Patton 4-2-0-0 Creager 5-1-2-3 Stanforth 4-1-2-2 Roy 4-0-0-1 Mueller 4-3-4-1 Naylor 0-3-0-0 Stewart 3-2-1-0 Caldwell 3-0-1-3 Shank 4-1-0-1 Tangonan 0-1-0-0
(4) EAST CLINTON (ab-r-h-rbi) Boeckmann 4-2-3-0 Campbell 4-1-3-0 Durbin 3-1-1-1 Luttrell 1-0-0-0 Peacock 3-0-0-1 Brightman 3-0-1-1 Boggs 4-0-3-0 Kessler 4-0-1-0 Rolfe 4-0-0-0 Runk 3-0-0-0
2B: EC-Boggs; BL-Mueller 2, Stewart
HR: BL-Abney, Creager
SB: BL-Abney 2, Patton, Stanforth, Stewart, Tangonan, Naylor
PITCHING^IP^H^R^ER^BB^SO
Blanchester
Mueller (W)^7^12^4^3^0^5
East Clinton
Campbell (L)^1.1^3^7^na^1^2
Brightman^5.2^7^7^na^1^7
