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MiddletownJournal.com

Big Blue batters Middies

Hamilton scores eight runs in final two at-bats

HAMILTON — The Hamilton High softball team nearly turned a pitchers' duel into a run rule Monday afternoon.

Locked in a 1-1 battle with Greater Miami Conference foe Middletown through four innings, the Big Blue exploded for eight runs on eight hits in their final two at-bats for a 9-1 victory in Hamilton.

"We've been too impatient at the plate, so we worked on that a lot over the weekend," said Jennifer McKee, who doubled in the fifth and singled in the sixth to finish 2-for-4 with an RBI in addition to throwing a complete-game two-hitter with 13 strikeouts.

"Coach (Darren) Stevens has really worked with us a lot the last couple of days, helping us with our swings and with our focus," added Hamilton leadoff hitter Rachel LeMaster, who went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles and two runs scored. "I think I kind of broke out a little today, and I have to give all the credit to coach Stevens and coach (Steve) Heckman."

Hamilton (10-2 overall, 8-2 Greater Miami Conference) managed just four hits off Middletown starter Jordan Campbell through the first four innings, but Big Blue buried the Middies (8-3, 5-3) with five runs on four hits in the fifth and three more runs on four hits in the sixth.

"(Campbell) just started getting the ball up in the strike zone," Middletown coach Van Sams said of his pitcher, who slipped to 6-2. "If you can't keep the ball down, you're going to have problems, especially against a good hitting team like Hamilton."

The Middies actually had a few problems even before then.

When McKee (10-2) hit Middletown catcher Myka Lipscomb with a pitch in the top of the fourth inning, Heckman informed the umpires the Middies were batting out of order.

Sams insisted they weren't, noting the lineup they were using matched exactly what he had in his book.

Trouble was, the lineup didn't match the one Hamilton had in its book.

"We had an extra lineup card floating around in the book from another game, and that's the one we gave them," Sams said. "It's my fault because I'm the coach."

The whole ordeal actually worked in Middletown's favor because after Lipscomb was called out for batting out of order in the fourth, she led off the fifth with a single and later scored on a Hamilton error to make it 1-1.

But what happened after that was the offensive outburst.

LeMaster got everything started by reaching on a two-base error. She was replaced by courtesy runner Jessie Weislogel, who moved to third on Traci Ryder's sacrifice bunt and then scored what turned out to be the game-winning run on a fielder's choice by Mimi Mahon.

McKee added an RBI double and her courtesy runner — Maggie Philpot — later scored on designated hitter Kelly Hall's second hit of the game. Then pinch-hitter Jessica Fansler blew things open with a two-run single to make it 6-1.

For Middletown, only Lipscomb and Brittny Lovelace hit safely.

The Middies play host to Sycamore on Wednesday.

Contact Jay Morrison at (513) 820-2193, or e-mail him at jmorrison@coxohio.com.