By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — The Lady Wave bounced back and claimed first place in the MVL with an 8-1 win over Tippecanoe at home on April 14. The win puts Greenville at 8-2 (6-0). Tippecanoe was undefeated in conference play heading into this one.

Head coach Jerrod Newland said it was a great team win against a great team in the Lady Red Devils.

“They got spunk, good group. It was a great game and we came out and played well. We were going to play well today no matter who we played. Great league game and just so excited for the kids,” Newland said.

The team started out hitting well in the first inning. Senior Alaina Baughn hit a double to get the hits going. That double was Baughn’s 100th career hit.

Sophomore Zoey Burns drove her in with a RBI double. Senior Ashlyn Zimmer then doubled to bring in another run. Senior Kylie Hamm hit a single to cap off the three-run first inning.

Tippecanoe did have chances to get on the board early and often. In the second inning, they had runners at second and third. With Hamm on the mound, the Lady Red Devils dropped a bunt to try and score the runner. Greenville was able to get the runner out at home. They then got out of the jam.

Tippecanoe had runners on second and third with no outs in the third inning. Hamm and her defense was able to get out of that jam without allowing any runs again.

In the bottom of the third, junior Addie Burke helped drive in a run to go up 4-0. Freshman Kendall Cromwell hit a sacrifice fly later in the inning to go up 5-0. With two outs, senior Skylar Fletcher doubled in a run to make it a 6-0 game.

Newland said the team did well at the plate and weren’t playing passive.

“Great job for the kids and the program. Loved the way we hit the ball, played aggressive,” Newland said.

Fletcher drove in a run on a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning. This was after the Lady Wave had some more opportunities to score runs, but couldn’t get any to cross in the fourth.

In the sixth inning, the Lady Red Devils did drive in their lone run of the game. Outside of that, Hamm was able to limit the Tippecanoe lineup and get out of jams.

Newland said Hamm did a great job keeping the ball low and made plays. Hamm had seven strikeouts on the mound in seven innings.

Hamm added in another run on a sacrifice groundout in the sixth to get the 8-1 win.

Burns finished the game with three hits. Hamm and Fletcher each had two RBI in the game.

The Lady Wave will travel to Kings on April 15 for an 11:30 a.m. game. They will then travel to Tippecanoe on April 17 at 5 p.m.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]