She may be just a sophomore, but Pierce City (3-0) pitcher Ragan Blinzler played the part of a crafty veteran to virtual perfection on Tuesday – no-hitting the Ash Grove Lady Pirates (2-2) en route to a 4-0 victory for the Lady Eagles.
Over the course of her seven innings of brilliant work, Blinzler allowed just two Lady Pirate batters to reach base.
The first baserunner for Ash Grove came in the bottom of the first when the sophomore hurler allowed a walk to catcher Hannah Robinson, while the second and final batter to get on was right fielder Josie Barnett, who struck out but reached safely after the pitch skipped to the backstop in the fifth.
Blinzler, who kept her emotions in check after her impressive feat, also tallied seven punchouts and looked nothing short of unhittable at times in the circle, but all of that was just a bonus to the main goal of simply putting together a solid effort and claiming a win.
“It was just about going out there and doing the best that I can for my team,” Blinzler said. “It's not really about the no-hitter, it's just getting the outs more than anything.”
Blinzler, converted from manning the shortstop position in her freshman campaign, never let the phenomenal command on her pitches waver at any juncture of the game. The sophomore was readily able to get ahead of hitters and mix up her pitches – a deadly combo that quickly put the Lady Pirates in precarious positions at the plate.
“I just knew that [Ash Grove] would be able to come up and hit, so I had to do my job and throw them off balance to where they couldn't hit the whole time,” said Blinzler.
At one point, the Pierce City pitching sensation retired twelve consecutive batters, with five of those outs coming via the K against a squad that has been putting up some rather gaudy offensive numbers early in the season.
“We couldn't figure her out,” Ash Grove head coach Lieren Doyle said of Blinzler. “We went from yesterday, [hitting against] an extremely slow pitcher to today, picking up the speed a little bit, and that may have had something to do with it.”
The closest the Lady Pirates came to recording a hit was in the bottom of the fifth when junior Syd Cashio dribbled a roller to shortstop Hannah Argyris, who charged in hard, gathered the ball and threw out Cashio by a quarter of a step.
After the game, Blinzler wasn't hesitant in saluting the defense behind her to help complete the no-no.
“I couldn't have done it without them,” added Blinzler. “There were times where the other team put the ball in play, so it's always a good thing to see my teammates backing me up. It makes me feel good.”
Ash Grove pitcher Hailey Woods took the loss, but competed valiantly. Woods also went the distance and allowed four runs on nine hits.
Pierce City's next contest is on the road at Verona on Thursday, while Ash Grove waits until next Tuesday when it hosts Fair Grove.
