The game was close through three innings, but the Salem Lady Tigers tightened the screws and went on to beat Ava on the road Tuesday 12-5.
After tying the game 5-5 in the bottom of the third inning, Ava could not get anything else going for the rest of the game. A lot of credit goes to Salem pitcher Kari Hatridge.
The senior Hatridge pitched seven innings for Salem and closed the door after the third inning. She surrendered eight hits in the first three innings, but did not allow a base runner after that, retiring the next 12 batters.
Hatridge ended the day with eight hits allowed and a whopping ten strikeouts.
“Kari, she had very good command of the strike zone,” said Salem coach Don Smith. “She was able to throw the ball low and away, and then she was able to come up under the hands. She attacked inside when she got ahead early, and she pitched ahead in the count and stayed ahead in the count.”
“We had a few errors in the field in the first inning, but we got through it,” said Hatridge.
Ava took advantage of some Salem mistakes in the first few innings. In fact, Ava put up three runs in the first inning to jump out to an early 3-0 lead.
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Salem rallied with five runs in the top of the second, only to watch Ava come back and tie the game at 5-5 in the third. Salem could have wilted at that point, but their experience showed. They went on to pile up 12 runs in the game.
“I feel like we all trust each other since we’ve been playing together for since I can remember, a lot of us,” said Hatridge. “I feel like we just stick together and we really know how to not get shaken up. We can calm down and get the win.
“In the circle, it calms me down when we get a big enough lead.”
Offensively, five Lady Tigers drove in at least one run in the game. Rebekah Kirker and Camryn Pryor each recorded a pair of RBIs. Kirker smacked two doubles in the game, one of which hit off the top of the wall in left field and nearly left the park.
“We had some timely hitting when we needed it,” said Coach Smith. “Their focus was good. When Ava had the three-run lead, we didn’t panic. Kari did a good job attacking the strike zone and we defended the slap hitters well today.”
Smith was the softball coach for Salem years ago. He was also a football and baseball coach for the school, but personal circumstances led to an early retirement.
Now, he’s returned as the head coach and has inherited quite a good team. Salem is in the midst of four straight conference titles and they’re looking for their fifth in a row.
“We’re looking at winning the conference championship for sure,” he said. “We’d like to win the district championship, and that’s something that has eluded them two years in a row. They’ve been in the final game and they’ve just kind of fallen short.
“I have the players write down team goals and individual goals. It was interesting to see how they all matched up, especially with the group of seniors – ‘we want to win the conference, we want to win the district.’ That’s our goal right now. We have to keep the game clean and execute well… I’m really pleased with where we are at this point. I’m very pleased.”
Salem improved their record to 6-1 after Tuesday’s win. They will have a week off before getting back in action on Sept. 6 when they welcome in Houston, another SCA conference opponent.
Ava is now 2-3 on the season and will travel to Springfield for their next game against Hillcrest on Sept. 1.
Salem – 0 – 5 – 0 – 2 – 0 – 1 – 4 – 12
Ava – 3 – 0 – 2 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 — 5
