ATTICA — The Bucyrus Lady Redmen occupy first place in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference softball standings.
With a week off for COVID-19 protocols, the Lady Redmen had to play a doubleheader at Seneca East on Saturday, preceding a brutal week where they face the two teams chasing them in the league race — Mohawk and Colonel Crawford — twice each.
They needed to take care of business Saturday, and they did.
Caleigh Rister pitched a complete game shutout and hit a home run to lead off the game, helping her own cause, as Bucyrus rolled past Seneca East 10-0.
“We talked about it yesterday that we knew we’ve got a tough schedule coming next week,” Bucyrus coach Jerry Hargis said. “But if we don’t take care of today, what good is next week? You have to come and be ready to play.”
The Redmen were ready. They scored at least one run in each of the first four innings, capped by a four-run fourth. With Rister tossing goose eggs, Bucyrus was able to close it out in five innings.
“(Rister’s} probably one of the best pitchers in the league. We’ve seen her for a couple of years, and I’ll be excited when she graduates,” quipped Seneca East coach Steve Heal said. “We probably put the ball in play today as well as we have the first two years we saw her.”
The Lady Tigers did put the bat on the ball nine times against Rister, but only three were for hits. The Redmen helped out by committing four errors in the first three innings.
“We’re riding Caleigh’s back too much,” Hargis said. “In this game here, she had 12 strikeouts. But we need to get a little better defensively.”
The offense was not a problem. Bucyrus banged out 16 hits, including three doubles and Rister’s dinger. All nine players in the lineup had at least one hit and seven of the nine drove in a minimum of one run.
“We made a few errors defensively to help them out,” Heal said. “The top of their order hit the ball pretty well.”
Kirsten Cook took the loss for the Tigers, striking out one and walking no one. Cook and Lexie Cheek each had doubles. Jessica Bowerman added a single for their only hits.
Rister also walked none to go with her 12 Ks. Two of Jade Torres’ three hits were doubles. Ashley Davis added a double and single and Sierra Frost had three singles. Haley Dye and Faith Schifer each singled twice, while Addy Rister, Taisha Spears, and Natalie Hankins all singled.
“Offensively, we’re coming around,” Hargis said. “But defensively, we need to limit the number of pitches Caleigh throws. We’re doing a poor job of that.”
“We’re a little young and when (Rister) gets runners on base, she bears down and gives that little extra umph,” Heal said. “We had bases loaded (in the first inning) and she had a couple of strikeouts to keep us from scoring.”
In the second game, Bucyrus (11-1, 8-0 N10) scored six runs in the first inning allowing Ashley Davis and the Redmen to cruise to a 12-2 victory and the sweep.
Davis struck out 12, walked two and held Seneca East (5-8, 3-6) to three singles in going the distance in the circle.
Caleigh Rister hit her second home run of the day and Torres added a round-tripper. Rister, Dye and Frost doubled.
Box scores
Game 1
Bucyrus 213 40X X 10 6 4
Seneca East 000 00X X 0 3 3
WP: Caleigh Rister (12 SO, 0 W)
LP: Kirsten Cook (1 SO, 0 W)
HR: (B) Caleigh Rister (solo first inning).
Triples: None.
Doubles: (B) Jade Torres 2, Ashley Davis.
Multiple hits: (B) Jade Torres 3, Sierra Frost 3, Haley Dye, Ashley Davis, Faith Schifer.
Records: Bucyrus 10-1, 7-0 N10; Seneca East 5-7, 3-5 N10.
Game 2
Seneca East 020 000 X 2 3 2
Bucyrus 600 123 X 12 14 2
WP: Ashley Davis (10 SO, 2 W)
LP: Abby Drosky (1 SO, 0 W)
HR: (B) Caleigh Rister, Jade Torres.
Triples: None.
Doubles: (B) Caleigh Rister, Haley Dye, Sierra Frost.
Multiple hits: (SE) Kenzie Hawely; (B) Caleigh Rister, Jade Torres, Haley Dye, Faith Schifer.
Records: Seneca East 5-8, 3-6 N10; Bucyrus 11-1, 8-0 N10.
Next: Seneca East at Colonel Crawford, Monday; Bucyrus at Mohawk, Monday.