AUSTIN – Mitchell won their third straight game on Saturday afternoon, beating Austin 19-6 behind a strong performance at the plate, earning 11 hits and batting in 14 runs.
This victory was their second of back-to-back mercy rule finishes after they beat Crawford County 13-1 on Wednesday.
The Bluejackets scored in nearly all of the five innings played, kicking off the game with Davaney Roop, Natalee Nissley, Paisley Modglin and Karsyn Coleman all picking up RBIs to help them jump out to a 6-0 lead through the first inning. They went through their entire lineup in the frame, putting eight straight hitters on base before suffering three straight outs.
They scored two more on the second, with a couple of passed balls allowing Nissley and Gabriella Roush to score, extending their lead to eight runs.
The top of the fourth saw Mitchell extend their lead to double digits. They began the inning by loading up the bases with no outs for Avah Cooper, who was hit by a pitch to force a runner home from third. In the next at-bat, Ella Gerkin mashed a double to left field, bringing home two more runners and putting another on third. A bunt from Westyn Brown gave way for another run to score, with an error during the same play giving way for Gerkin to score as well, bringing the score to 13-0.
As the Bluejackets’ bats thrived, the Eagles struggled to find any offense. They were held without a hit through the first three innings against Nissley, who started the game at the hill for Mitchell.
Austin managed their first base hit in the bottom of the fourth, a single from Aubree Couch. Nissley struck out three in the inning to retire the side, stranding Couch on first and earning her 10th K of the day.
Mitchell padded their lead with six more runs in the top of the fifth with Cooper, Jocelyn Drake and Miley Teague all knocking in runs, pushing their advantage up to 19-0, and putting the Eagles’ backs against the wall, as scoring any less than 11 runs would trigger the mercy rule, ending the game after five innings if a team leads by 10 or more.
The Bluejackets made a pitching change, bringing Cooper to the mound to close things out.
In the fifth, Austin had their most successful outing of the day, scoring nine runs and picking up six hits, but he wasn’t enough to avoid the early exit, with Mitchell picking up the third out on a grounder as the game-saving run was left stuck on second.
Leading the way for the Bluejackets from the batter’s box were Teague, Gerkin, Nissley and Cooper, who earned knocked home runs. Cooper led the team with three RBIs.
Next up on the schedule for Mitchell is county rival Bedford North-Lawrence, who are led by Ava Ratliff, a University of South Carolina commit who recently broke the state record for career home runs with 51
