Back on track

NEW BREMEN - A day after its offense suffered a cold spell, St. Marys got out to a hot start.

Two runs in the top of the first and several more runs later in the game were matched up with another great pitching effort from Karsyn McGlothen as the Roughriders won an Auglaize County softball battle 5-3 at New Bremen on a chilly Friday afternoon.

After being held to two hits in a 9-0 loss to Bowling Green on Thursday - despite McGlothen breaking the school record with 18 strikeouts - the Roughriders (2-1) had four of their eight hits in the first inning as McGlothen and Kelly Holsinger each had RBI singles to plate two runs early.

"Yesterday is behind us," said Roughriders coach Kendra Solomon with a laugh. "Today we were more aggressive at the plate. We know New Bremen has consistent hitters and and their pitchers won't have a lot of walks. We knew we had to take advantage of the situations and stay aggressive at the plate."

After the first, the Cardinals settled down a bit as Alayna Ross allowed just four more hits over the final six innings with four strikeouts, one walk and four hit batsmen.

"With the cold, well, it was affecting her grip a bit," New Bremen coach Gary Moeder said of Ross. "I think once it starts warming up, that will take care of that."

St. Marys plated two more runs in the third as Holsinger doubled home courtesy runner Bailey Weigel and Elly Wedding. The final Roughrider run came in the sixth as Ashlyn Ross scored on a groundout back to the circle by Morgan Hirschfeld.

McGlothen was sharp in the circle again with 13 strikeouts and just one walk in pitching a five-hitter. Three St. Marys errors contributed to two of the three Cardinal runs.

"It's nice to get some cushion right away to give ourselves some confidence," said Solomon. "That felt like we could take a breath in those situations."

New Bremen scored its first run in the second after back-to-back singles by Ross and Kanyen Moon. One out later, Grace Wilker reached on an error to allow Ross to score.

In the fifth, Mackenzie Bornhorst led off with a double and scored one out later on a Ella Pape single. The final run came in the sixth when Kyla Stachler, who reached on an error, scored on Lauren Homan's groundout to first.

"First inning was a little tough, but we responded," said Moeder. "I was really proud of how the girls hit today. We saw a real good pitcher. I'm pleased with what we did tonight at the plate."

Makenzie Henning and Holsinger each had two hits for St. Marys, which travels to Marion Local on Monday.

The Cardinals are back at it today as they travel to Shawnee for a quad event starting at noon.