COLUMBUS – Aliza Jewell hurled a complete-game, ruby-red gem, and Ava Ratliff clubbed a go-ahead home run as Bedford North Lawrence conquered Columbus East 2-1 during high school softball action on Friday.
Jewell allowed only three hits, didn’t walk a batter and needed only 69 pitches to finish off the Olympians. Ratliff smacked her state-leading 10th homer of the season leading off the sixth as the Stars (9-9-1 overall) improved to 3-1 in the Hoosier Hills Conference race.
After struggling through the first, Jewell was virtually untouchable. East (7-10, 1-3) scored its run when Lola Watkins led off with a triple and Savanna Sullivan followed with a RBI double. Jewell hit the next two batters to load the bases, then escaped more damage with a strikeout, pop up and fly out.
From that point, after needing 15 pitches to get through that rough start, she settled into a polished grove, recording six one-pitch outs over the last six innings. She fanned three and allowed only one more hit (Addy Ross singled with two outs in the sixth).
“She pitched great,” BNL coach Brad Gilbert said. “She got too much of the plate against the first two batters, then settled down. She was efficient. She was hitting her spots, and we were getting pop-ups and ground balls. That’s what we want. She pitched a gem.”
BNL came back with a run in the fifth. Anna Williams and Sara Williams both singled to right, Danielle Stegeman bunted both runners into scoring position, and Maddy Figg drove in the run (her first RBI of the year) with a ground out. Then Ratliff blasted her lead-off bomb in the next inning.
“Maddy battled and got the ball in play,” Gilbert said. “We talk about that a lot. You don’t have to get the base hit, just get the ball in play. (Hermione) Robinson is a tough pitcher, we had some strikeouts. Then Ava got a pitch she liked.
“It was a good win. We’ll take it.”
Ratliff was 2 for 2 (with a double) while Jewell and Sara Williams also had two hits each. Ratliff has raised her average to .536 with an incredible hot streak (21 of 28 over the last eight games).
The Stars will host Barr-Reeve on Tuesday.
