By Lori Brown
LIBERTY — On Wednesday, the Liberty Lady Indians hosted the Cornwall Lady Dragons in a non-league softball game.
Unfortunately for the hosts, the contest was one-sided on the scoreboard as Cornwall posted a 17-0 victory.
Lady Dragons’ pitcher Kelsey Hand allowed only four hits and recorded four strikeouts to earn the win.
Cornwall had a strong start, scoring four runs in the top of the first. And the Lady Dragons were aggressive on the bases, stealing a base whenever they had the opportunity.
In the second inning, Cornwall’s Danielle Johnston walked and then stole second base and third base before crossing home plate.
At that point, Liberty Coach Maggie Novello called a timeout to change pitchers as Jenna VanKeuren stepped in for starter Ali Maltese.
VanKeuren was able to prevent the Lady Dragons from scoring any more runs in the frame.
Cornwall’s Ashley Rodriguez began the third inning with a triple to center field. Brittany Klumack grounded out, but earned an RBI when Rodriguez came home.
Cornwall (8-7) took a 7-0 lead in the fifth as Erin Miller scored on a double by Lauren Parrette.
With two outs and the bases loaded in the sixth, Parrette slammed a triple. All three of her teammates who were on base – Johnston, Amy Lindland and Miller – scored on the hit.
Ashley Rodriguez dropped in a single to bring home Parrette, which gave the Lady Dragons an 11-0 lead.
The Lady Dragons did not let up on Liberty’s defense in the seventh inning as they scored six runs. The key hit in the frame was a home run by Parrette.
“The pitching is a little slower and the girls were impatient and swinging at everything,” Cornwall Coach Rick Miller said. “They tended to not wait for a nice pitch. They needed to wait for a better pitch to hit, which is what they did in the last inning.”
“Liberty had nice plays in the field,” Miller added. “They caught [flyballs] great and handled grounders [well].”
“Our pitcher, Kelsey Hand, threw a lot of strikes and is a valuable first baseman as well,” Miller continued. “She is a very good pitcher and really tough for being the second starting pitcher in our rotation.”
Miller also noted that Parrette, the Lady Dragons’ catcher, “had a great day.”
Parrette finished the game with five RBIs.
With the loss, Liberty’s record fell to 3-12 on the season.
“We did not have too many hits out of the infield and we had too many passed balls,” Novello said.
“Defensively, we were holding them until they had solid hits,” she added. “Relief pitcher Jenna VanKeuren held her own today and threw strikes. Paulina Kleinberger did a great job playing shortstop for the first time.”