EVANSVILLE – Evansville North clipped Bedford North Lawrence 4-3 in the opening round of the Castle Invitational during high school softball action on Friday night.
The Huskies (2-3) did all their damage in the middle innings while handing the Stars (1-4) their fourth straight setback.
“I was proud of the effort,” BNL coach Brad Gilbert said. “The kids battled. We had the bases loaded twice and not much to show for it. We’re just snakebit right now. Once we get everybody going, we’ll be hard to beat. We pitched well, they just put a few more balls in play than we did. We had our chances.”
North broke through in the top of the fourth inning when Jinnis Gerth led off with a single and Charleigh Hankins cracked a triple to left. The Hankins later scored on Kami Meyerholtz’s bunt. The Stars answered in the fourth when Aliza Jewell walked, Tori Nikirk singled, and Sara Williams singled to right.
North came back with a run in the fifth on two walks, a wild pitch and sacrifice fly.
In the BNL fifth, star slugger Ava Ratliff connected on a solo home run to start the frame. That was her second of the season and 45th of her career as she bears down on the state career mark (50).
North made it 4-2 in the sixth on Joiner’s two-out single. BNL rallied in the seventh on a two-out Jewell triple and Nikirk RBI single, but North reliever Isabelle Davenport got the final out to secure the win.
Nikirk and Britta Warren had two hits each for the Stars.
BNL will tangle with Lincoln Way Central (10 a.m.) and Shelbyville (noon) on Saturday to complete pool play in the event, then play its final game in the tournament on Saturday at 3 p.m. Lincoln Way is 4-2 after a 10-0 win over Shelbyville (2-1).
