Brownstown Central’s Brooke Meahl prepares to slap the ball for a hit Saturday against Columbus East. She had one hit in the first game and scored one run in the second game.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Brownstown Central’s Kelsey Schneider leads off third base Saturday against Columbus East. She had five hits and scored two runs in the two games and was the winning pitcher in the second game.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
After Brownstown Central lost 6-2 in the first game of a doubleheader on Saturday, head coach Darren Bryant told his players they needed to hit, pitch and field better if they expected to win the second game.
The Braves took Bryant’s advice to heart as they increased their hit total from five to seven and scored in four different innings, their pitcher reduced East’s hit total from 12 to nine and the Braves won 6-4.
“It took us a whole game to start hitting the ball,” he said. “That first game, we didn’t hit very well at all. We didn’t defend their small ball well. They have big speed at the top of their order. The inning they hurt us the most, they only hit the ball out of the infield once.
“Credit to them. They have a lot of speed, and they use it very well. I don’t know how we could have defended it much different, other than maybe thrown more rise balls as pitches that were difficult to bunt.”
The teams battled through three scoreless innings before Jaycee Redman hit a two-run single in the top of the fourth to put the Olympians on top for good.
Kelsey Schneider led off the bottom of the fourth with a double down the left field line and scored on a double by Erin Singleton.
The Olympians went to small ball in the fourth as they bunted three times for hits and had five hits in the inning to score three runs.
Emily Dillman walked leading off the bottom of the fifth and scored on a single by Schneider to make it 5-2 before the Olympians added an unearned run in the sixth.
Rylin Huddleston went the distance on the mound and had nine strikeouts and no walks while allowing 12 hits.
East used a double and sacrifice fly to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first in the nightcap.
The Braves left two runners on base in the first inning and stranded one runner in the second before bunching four hits together in the third to score three.
Schneider started the rally with a single and went to second on an error. Emily Singleton singled up the middle and Erin Singleton beat out a bunt to score Schneider. Rylee May singled to left-center to score both Singletons to make it a 3-1 game.
After East scored once in the top of the fourth, the Braves matched that run in the bottom when Kyndle Huddleston walked and was replaced by pinch runner Kinzee Dean, who scored on a double by Schneider.
With two outs in the fifth, Sophie Wayt was safe on an error, stole second and scored on a double by Dillman.
Brooke Meahl walked leading off the sixth, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored when Erin Singleton hit into a fielder’s choice.
Schneider had a double and a single in the opener, a single and two doubles in the nightcap, scored a run and had an RBI in each game, and Erin Singleton had a hit and an RBI each game.
“The first game, we didn’t score enough to beat them. In the second game, we did,” Bryant said.
Schneider had nine strikeouts, walked four and gave up nine hits in the second game.
Bryant was pleased with Huddleston and Schneider in the circle.
“I thought both of them did well,” he said. “Rylin didn’t give up that many big hits. They scored runs on the small ball.”
The Braves take an 11-7 record to Floyd Central today for a 6 p.m. start.