SAGINAW, Mich. – Drury advanced to the Saginaw Regional Championship with a win over Findlay, 16-0, on May 9. The Panthers fell earlier in the day to Saginaw Valley, 6-1.
GAME ONE vs #1 Saginaw Valley State
Sophia Luetticke opened the game for the Panthers with a single through the right side. Luetticke was then thrown out on a steal attempt. The next two Drury batters went down.
Saginaw Valley put two runs up in their half of the first inning. A bases-loaded single followed by a sacrifice fly gave the Cardinals runs.
A combined total of two batters reached until the bottom of the fourth inning when SVSU added one run to extend their advantage to three runs.
The Cardinals were able to double their runs in the fifth and put the game out of reach for the Panthers.
Drury added their lone run of the game to the top of the sixth on a solo home run from
Sophia Luetticke. It was her second season and first since February 25 against Missouri Southern.
The Panthers only had three hits in the game. Two are from
Sophia Luetticke, and one is from
Brooklyn LaChappa. There were five innings where Drury only brought three batters to the plate. Jorydn Foley started Drury in the circle. Foley threw 4.1 innings, allowing seven hits and five runs. The loss drops her season record to 10-9.
Natalie Wilks threw the final 1.2 innings.
GAME TWO vs #4 Findlay
Following the loss, the Panthers bounced back strongly against Findlay in the second round of elimination games.
Drury put a two-spot up in the first inning.
Landry Cochran and
Taylor Hartsell started the game off with back-to-back walks. An
AJ Agers ground out advanced Cochran and Hartsell 60 feet.
Kaley Adzick proceeded to single into right field to score Cochran and Hartsell.
The Panthers added three more in the third.
Landry Cochran stole home on a first and third situation that forced a throw to second base.
Kaley Adzick added another RBI to score Hartsell on a fielder's choice.
Brooklyn LaChappa moved the advantage to five runs with a sacrifice fly to score
AJ Agers.
AJ Agers kept the Oilers from getting a hit until the fourth inning.
Kaley Adzick and
Brooklyn LaChappa extended the Drury lead to eight runs in the top of the fourth. An Adzick single scored Cochran, followed by a triple from LaChappa that scored Hartsell and Adzick.
Already set up for a run-rule win, Drury doubled the run total in the fifth inning. An eight-run inning, capped off by a
Victoria Garland grand slam, secured the 16-0 win.
Three Panthers had two hits:
Kaley Adzick,
Reece Anderson, and
Gabrielle Bax. Adzick had five RBIs and Garland had four.
Brooklyn LaChappa pushed three runs across.
AJ Agers threw a complete game. She allowed only one hit and did not strike a single batter out. Agers forced 11 ground outs and three fly outs.
UP NEXT
Drury plays against the top-seed Saginaw Valley State Cardinals on May 10 in the Saginaw Regional Championship. The Panthers have to beat the Cardinals twice to earn the title.
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