Twinning

NEW BREMEN - The New Bremen Cardinals have been winning a lot this season.

They were twinning on Monday.

The Smith twins - Molly and Erin - played big roles for New Bremen in a 3-2 victory over Covington.

After Molly Smith pitched seven innings of two-hit softball, Erin made sure her sister got the win with a walk-off two-run double in New Bremen's final at-bat.

The Cardinals improved to 7-2 on the season.

"This was a heckuva game," said first-year Cardinal coach Ellie Puthoff, before later adding. "The girls are starting to mesh together and we're finding what works."

The Buccs scored one in the second and another in the sixth. The only two hits against Molly Smith were doubles by Kenzie Long and Ashlyn Plessinger. Long's hit came in the second. She advanced to third on a sac fly and scored on a passed ball. Plessinger doubled with one out in the sixth. She went to third on an error and scored on a ground ball by Morgan Studebaker.

New Bremen struggled producing with runners on base for most of the game. Lauren Cordonnier's sixth-inning single provided New Bremen with one run, but the Cardinals stranded 10 runners on base prior to the seventh.

Cardinal center fielder Abbi Thieman had a diving catch in the seventh to keep Covington from adding on to its lead.

"We had some great fielding out in center field by Abbi Thieman," Puthoff said. "I think she had three or four outs. She dove for that ball. That was a big play. We would not have been in the position to win without that play."

Marissa Topp led off New Bremen's final chance with an infield single. Long then issued a walk to Kira Bertke and Molly Smith bunted the runners into scoring position. Covington intentionally walked Kelly Naylor to bring up Erin Smith, who lined the game-winner to right-center field.

"When she's on, she's on," Puthoff said. "(In the seventh), she was on and that's what we needed.

"That was clutch."

All but one Cardinal in the lineup had at least a hit. Cordonnier was the only player with two hits.

Molly Smith allowed just one earned run while striking out five and walking two.

"We've been working with Molly on getting that first batter," Puthoff said. "She really thrives on that first batter, and I hope she keeps doing this going forward. … We've got Versailles next. It's not going to be easy, but we'll try to pull it out."

New Bremen opens Midwest Athletic Conference play today at Versailles.