Lady Cougars sweep to remain in first place

WARDEN — The Warden Lady Cougars swept a softball doubleheader with the Columbia-Burbank Coyotes Thursday to improve to 3-1 on the year and remain in a first-place tie in the SCAC standings.

Warden won the first game 13-3 in six innings, then improved on that by taking the second game 17-1 in just five innings of play.

While the Coyotes were able to play with Warden for stretches of each game, the Lady Cougars' offense eventually overwhelmed the Columbia-Burbank defense to put up some huge innings.

"In both of these games, it was fairly tight until we had a couple big innings," said Warden coach Wes Richins.

In the second game, Warden took an early 1-0 lead, only to have the Coyotes come back to tie the score in the top of the third. In the bottom half of the inning, with the Lady Cougars beginning their second trip through the batting order, the Warden bats heated up to the tune of 10 runs.

"It took us a while to settle in," said Richins. "We got the timing down and adjusted. Our bats exploded and we were able to put them away."

Warden's 10-run third inning began with a leadoff triple down the left field line from Kat Martin. Amanda Martin followed with a single to left to make the score 2-1.

From there, Warden loaded the bases for Ashton Stott, who ripped a bases-clearing double to the fence in left to put the Lady Cougars up 5-1.

Warden again loaded the bases, and Cassandra Kisler duplicated Stott's feat with a double to center that gave the Lady Cougars an 8-1 lead.

Amanda Martin later came to the plate for the second time in the inning, tripling to drive in two more runs for a 10-1 lead. A Jen Whitaker sacrifice gave Warden their final run of the third inning.

While it appeared Thursday that Warden was in top form, Richins feels his team has a way to go before they reach their potential.

"We're not quite where we want to be," said the Warden coach. "We're still trying to settle into our spots. We're getting close."

In the first game, Warden's Jenny Guerra capped a five-run fifth inning with a two-run double to put an end to the contest. Warden jumped out to a 7-0 lead over Columbia-Burbank in the first game, only to allow the Coyotes to score three runs in the fifth inning.

"We're still kind of young," said Richins of the mental breakdowns that led to the Columbia-Burbank rally. "We can't afford that."

"In the future, that could really come back to bite us," the Warden coach added.

Offensively, Kisler finished the day 5 for 6 with two doubles, six RBIs and four runs scored. Amanda Martin went 5 for 8 in the two games, and had five RBIs, four runs, a double and a triple.

Stott pitched the fist game for Warden, striking out nine batters in six innings for the win. Randi Wright was the Lady Cougars' pitcher in game two, striking out seven batters in five innings.