The El Dorado Lady Bulldogs are still perfect, at least through five games of the 2016 prep softball season.
On Tuesday afternoon, in Morrisville, the Dogs rode a four hit pitching performance from their ace hurler, Tailor Hutsell, to down the Marion C. Early Lady Panthers 9-2. Hutsell sat down thirteen Panthers at the plate in the win.
With the victory El Dorado is now 5-0 on the year. The Panthers, in defeat, are 5-3.
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The Bulldogs used some clutch hits, and a few Panther misques, to grab a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning in their win over Marion C. Early.
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El Dorado's Paige Esry got things rolling for the Dogs in the first with a double over the Panther's left fielder. After stealing third Esry was driven home on a single off the bat of Anyssa Salazar. Salazar would also score in the frame crossing the plate on a single by Makenzie Melton.
The Bulldogs would add another run in the second to take control of the game 3-0.
But El Dorado opened the flood gates in the top of the fifth, scoring five times to virtually put the game away.
The Bulldogs played small ball in the inning as their first two batters bunted their way to first base. The Dogs gathered in two hits, one from Allyson Snodgrass and the other from Payton Babcock, to lead all Bulldogs at the plate in the frame.
Faulty defense by Marion C. Early also played a key role in the Bulldog's big inning. The Panthers committed four errors in the frame.
After watching the Bulldogs score one more time in the top of the sixth to push the score up to 9-0 the Cats rallied in the bottom half of the frame for two runs of their own to avert a shutout.
The Panthers collected three hits in the sixth. Katie Collins doubled to left field to lead things off the Cats. Picking up singles were Jade Presley and Carlie Gregory.
Bulldog hurler Hutsell gave up just four hits to the Panthers in picking up her fifth win of the season. She struckout thirteen, gave up just four walks and allowed only one earned run.
Taking the loss was the Panthers Erica Brisley. Brisley gave up six hits while striking out six and walking three. She is 5-3 on the season. Brisley got help from Katie Collins in the sixth. Collins allowed three hits and struck out two with no walks.
Despite putting up nine runs against the Panthers the Bulldogs entered the ball game with a lot of respect for their opponents.
"We knew we were going to have to be ready to play when we got off the bus," said El Dorado head coach Julie Shelby. "Coach McHolland runs a very good program and is always competitive. "
The Bulldog coach was especially pleased with the effort she got from Hutsell.
"Tailor works very hard for us, she pitches every game," said Shelby. "She has to be ready from the beginning, as she was today. But I think she began to tire some down the stretch."
"I did start out strong today," Hutsell said. "But I started to feel the heat a little bit during the sixth and seventh innings. They played hard, as I knew they would, and they wouldn't give up so I just had to tough it out."
While Hutsell kept the Panther bats in check for most of the game the Dog bats gave her the cushion she needed to finish the game.
"We did expect a tough game today," said El Dorado Catcher Salazar. "So it was really good to see us put up so many runs. Overall I'd say we played pretty good."
Although losing Panther coach Mike McHolland feels that his kids can play much better.
"We just made too many errors today," McHolland said. "You can't make as many errors as we did and beat a good team like El Dorado. I think we just weren't mentally ready today. Hopefully we'll get another chance to play them again."
Both MCE and El Dorado are entered in this weekend's 'Walnut Grove Softball Tournament'. El Dorado rank's as the tourney's top seed, MCE the second.
This afternoon, Wednesday, El Dorado will take on Clinton on the road in a 6 p.m. ball game.
Box Score 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 F
Eldorado 2 1 0 0 5 1 0 9
MCE 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2
Leading Hitters:
Eldorado: Anyssa Salazar 2-4, Allyson Snodgrass 2-4, Brooke Larsen 1-2, Makenzie Melton 1-3, Payton Babcock 1-4, Paige Esry 1-5 and Tailor Hutsell 1-5.
Marion C. Early: Jade Presley 1-3, Carlie Gregory 1-3, Kaitlyn Kresanek 1-3, Katie Collins 1-4 (2B), Sara Woods 1-4.
