Early Tuesday, the Norwood Pirates were awarded the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Class 1 District 2 tournament. Late Tuesday, they showed why.
Hosting a Class 1 Bakersfield team that has spent back-to-back weeks in our power rankings, the Pirates poured 10 runs on the Lions in 4.5 innings, sending the visitors home in an efficient and extra-base-hit filled mercy win, 10-0.
The win was the 15th of the year for Norwood (15-4) and their eighth in nine games. The loss dropped Bakersfield to 10-8.
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“We’ve really kind of turned that corner and started playing really consistently,” Norwood head coach Phillip Reed said.
Look no further than today’s stat book to see the truth in that. Every Norwood batter had at least one hit, eight Pirates scored at least one run and seven recorded at least one RBI. Add 4.5 scoreless innings by Emily Chadwell—Chadwell struck out five and allowed just four baserunners on three hits and a walk—to those totals and you’ve got yourself one happy coach.
“I feel confident,” Reed said. “At times we’ve shown we can make errors, but what’s come through the last two weeks is we’ve not had three or four errors in a row. We’ve been able to stop that big inning.”
Chadwell and the Pirates did that in the second and third innings, stranding three Bakersfield runners in scoring position over those two frames when the two were still locked in a tight 2-0 game.
Norwood blew things open in the bottom of the third when Chadwell, Jenna Ogletree, Emma Nelson and Emma McIntosh all reached to start the inning and all scored before the end of it. Nelson drove in Chadwell and Ogletree with a triple to deep right field, two of three RBIs for her on the night. Chadwell finished 3-3 with a double and an RBI.
Norwood would add a run in the fourth and three more in the fifth after leadoff doubles by Bayli Calhoun and Melody Campbell.
Norwood has only played four Class 1 teams this season, so they’ve had their success against schools they won’t even see in the Class 1 tournament. They’e 3-1 against those teams with their only Class 1 loss coming to an 11-win Van Buren team in the Norwood Family Pharmacy tournament last weekend, 6-2.
“It’s definitely a club that’s pretty talented,” Reed, who felt his team played well enough to beat Van Buren, said. “We’ve got talent all around the field. It’s a good place to be for sure. Senior leadership is huge and they’ve just kind of led the charge, which makes my job easier.”
Defending district champion Norwood won 16 games last year.
Natalie McKee reached base for Bakersfield on first- and third-inning singles. Krystal Foster had the only other Bakersfield hit. This was the first time all season Bakersfield has been held scoreless. The Lions have now lost just twice to Class 1 competition, with the other being a 7-1 loss to a Dora team they’d beat 6-5 earlier this season.
“We’re in a very tough district,” Bakersfield coach Brandon Cotter said. “I wish we were fielding the ball better. If we’re fielding, we’re a hard team to beat. But we haven’t made people beat us the past few games. If we do that, we’re pretty good. If we fix that, I have a feeling we can come out and surprise some people [in districts].”
This year’s district tournaments begin October 5.
Our next round of softball power rankings will be released Wednesday night.
