By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
Cabot stayed with the defending state champions through five innings and then Bryant got to freshman pitcher Morgan Newton on the way to an 8-0 victory in a 7A-Central Conference game at Lady Panther Field on Tuesday.
Newton held the Lady Hornets (16-3, 6-0) to six hits and one run through the first five innings, and her defense held up to get her out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the third. Newton injured her hand while batting in the fifth, which affected her pitching delivery in the top of the sixth.
“She did a good job,” Cabot coach Becky Steward said. “It was her first start in a varsity game. She kept them off balance; she doesn’t have the best of speed, but she’s going to find her spots.”
Freshman Raven Gilbert came on in relief after Bryant scored five runs in the sixth, and the Lady Hornets scored two more in the seventh inning.
“My girls are a different breed,” Bryant coach Debbie Clark said. “A term of endearment I use for them is ‘beasts.’ They know I would like to score a run every inning. We didn’t do that; they make it a little hard on me from time to time.
“Their pitcher did a great job of keeping them off balance.”
Bryant junior pitcher Peyton Jenkins allowed just two hits. She gave up a walk to Newton after a long battle to lead off the bottom of the third and gave up her first hit to Kristi Flesher in the fourth.
Taylor Anderson reached in the fifth when Bryant third baseman McKenzie Rice bobbled the throw to first, and Tracie French caught a break in the sixth when her grounder to third hopped over Rice’s glove for the other Cabot single.
“Coach Steward does a great job and had her girls reallyprepared,” Clark said. “We knew, I mean, I know every game’s going to be a battle because everybody’s going to play their best against us.”
Cassidy Wilson got Bryant going in the top of the sixth when she led off with a triple into deep center. Ashley Chaloner then singled to score Wilson before being retired at second on a fielder’s choice to Cabot shortstop Kristen Sumler from Cally Yazza.
Katy Stillman hit a grounder up the middle for a single, and put Bryant up 4-0 when she got low to beat the throw home from Cabot third baseman Brooke Taylor to Anderson.
Jessie Taylor doubled to drive in Jenna Bruick before Gilbert came in to cool things down. Gilbert induced two pop-ups, the first one by Jenkins into center field that allowed Rice to tag up at third and score to give the Lady Hornets a 6-0 lead.
Newton and Gilbert are part of a trio of underclassmen that includes sophomore Kelli Offerdahl on the Cabot pitching staff. The Lady Panthers (6-10, 2-3) have veteran players such as Flesher, Anderson, Taylor and Jenny Evans scattered through the roster but overall the team is young.
“They’re about where I thought they would be,” Steward said.
“But, you know how it goes, if we had a few less errors and a few more hits, it would be better. I’m going back to youth and inexperience, so it just goes with it.”
