Redick handcuffs Martinsburg

For the second time in a week, Natalie Redick beat Martinsburg on the high school softball diamond. Redick allowed three runs in the first two innings, but settled down and went the distance to record her fourth win of the year, 9-3, over the visiting Bulldogs on Monday, April 2.

Redick was dominant in the final four innings, allowing no runs on two hits, striking out six and walking none. For the game, Redick allowed three runs on six hits, striking out eight and walking one.

"Natalie had a much better game this time against Martinsburg," Brown said. “She shut them out five of seven innings and only allowed one walk. Our offense pounded out 11 hits, and we only committed two errors. Skylar (Kroschinsky) and Brittney (Stotler) stayed hot at the plate, collecting five hits between them."
The Indians jumped out to a 3-1 lead after one inning and then added two more runs in the second to take a 5-1 lead.

Leading 3-1, Tiffany Michael led off the second with a clean single to left. Skylar Kroschinsky stepped to the plate and was hit in the knee with a pitch while offering a bunt. The gritty catcher, in obvious pain, took a few minutes to recover and then tomahawked the next pitch over the left fielder's head for a triple, scoring Michael all the way from first. Brittney Stotler's single to left field plated Kroschinsky and gave the Tribe the four-run lead after two complete.

The Bulldogs answered with a pair of runs, including a home run, but Redick settled down and dominated the rest of the way, while the Berkeley Springs offense provided four insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Stephanie Miller led off the sixth with a walk. One out later Kroschinsky drew the second walk of the inning and both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch. With both runners in scoring position, Dallis Bishop delivered a single to right scoring both Miller and Kroschinsky. Bishop made it to second on an error and moved to third on an infield single by Stotler, before scoring on a wild pitch. Redick then helped her own cause with a hard single up the middle that scored Stotler and gave the Tribe a 9-3 lead.

Redick did the rest to record her fourth win of the year.

Kroschinsky had two hits, including a triple with two runs scored and a RBI. Stotler also had two hits, with a RBI and run scored, Bishop delivered the big two-run single and scored one run, while Redick had a run-scoring single.

The following day, East Hardy made the trip to Morgan County and returned home 11-1 victors, in five innings.

East Hardy scored four runs in the second without the benefit of a hit and never looked back on their way to the five-inning mercy rule win.

Rhiannon Coble, who was relieved with two outs in the second, suffered the loss. Miranda Barber worked the final 3.1 innings in relief.

Kroschinsky singled and Bishop delivered a run scoring double.

"East Hardy is a very good state tournament team from last year," said Brown. “It was a good 4-1 game going into the fifth inning when East Hardy exploded for seven runs. Rhiannon only allowed one hit in 1.2 innings, but her five walks came back to haunt her. Miranda came in and did a nice job for us throwing strikes, but a good hitting team will adjust to her like they did in the fifth. If Miranda can command a change-up, she could be very effective. Having said that, we didn't give our pitchers enough offensive support."

Berkeley Springs fell to 4-8 with the loss.