The young and improving Miller Cardinals registered only their second win of the season Friday afternoon with an 18-7 victory over the Lockwood Tigers. The win left the Redbirds sitting on a 2-8 record in 2016. The Cats fell to 1-3.
While the Cards have been playing well defensively in 2016 they haven't been able to get their bats going. But the Birds found their mark, on Friday, in front of their home town fans in Miller.
The Redbirds lashed out twenty hits off the Cats en route to their 18-7 win. It was a feat that Miller head coach Hannah Wilkerson was happy to see.
"I'm so proud of these girls. We have a large class of freshman on our team but we've also got some good senior leadership," Wilkerson said. "Our kids don't get discouraged and they don't give up. They just keep playing hard and getting better. They fell back 3-0 in the first inning but just kept plugging away- it was good to see the bats begin to work for us."
After falling behind 3-0 in the opening frame the Cardinals battled back to put up one of their own in the first inning to trail 3-1 as the game headed into the second inning.
The Tigers and Cardinals traded runs in the second with Lockwood adding three more runs and Miller two. As both teams headed into the top of the third the Cats were out in front 6-3 and looking to saddle the Cardinals for their ninth loss of the season.
But the Miller defense stepped up big the rest of the way allowing Lockwood just one more run, a lone score in the fifth, throughout the remainder of the ball game.
After being shut out in the third inning themselves the Cardinal bats errupted for seven runs in the fourth to grab control of the game, then added two more in the fifth and another six in the sixth to calim the 18-7 victory.
On the mound for the Cardinal win was Melissa Cook. Cook gave up just five hits and walked five while striking out seven. She was credited with her second victory of the season, versus seven losses.
"I feel like I threw well today," Cook said. "I was especially proud of my teammates. They played some solid defense behind me to help us get the win."
Cook also helped herself at the plate. She went a perfect four-for-four slugging two doubles. Katie Lung was also perfect at the plate. Lung went four-for-four with two RBI's.
Taking the loss was the Tiger's Rylee Neill. Neill gave up 20 hits while striking out oneand giving up two walks.
Despite the lopsided loss Lockwood had their chances offensively, often leaving runners on base.
"We started out swinging the bat well. We put up six runs over the first two innings, " Lockwood head coach Kara Kinney said. "But they swang some big bats today also finding the holes to move runners around to score. We were hitting the ball, but to often to the Cardinals. But our kids didn't quit and I'm proud of them for the effort they put out on the field today."
Lockwood 3 3 0 1 0 0 7
Miller 1 2 0 7 2 6 18
Miller: Kiley Pennington 3-4, Melissa Cook 4-4, Caitlyn Nunez 3-4, Katie Lung 4-4, Olivia Cook 2-4, Hannah Edwards 1-4, Lindsey Burch 2-3, Macy Mitchell 1-3.
Lockwood: Payton Moss, Lillian Eggerman, Rylee Neill, Hope Dunagan and Tiffaney Clabough 1 hit each.
