Hannah Hall
DUBLIN, Ind. – A good place.
Lincoln Head Coach Scott Griffin was pleased his Lincoln softball team after the Golden Eagles defeated Hagerstown 6-3 in a Tri-Eastern Conference game on Thursday.
“As a team, we’re seeing the ball real well right now,” Griffin said. “These kids have been working real hard.”
“When you hit the ball hard good things are going to happen,” he continued. “As a team, we’re in a really good place right now.”
The viewpoint was a little different in the other dugout.
“It’s a hard loss,” Hagerstown Head Coach Kelsi Stotler said. “We’re getting better.”
“The hits starting coming around when we needed them to,” she added. “We just didn’t score enough runs. We had a few fielding mistakes at the beginning but did we pull it back together.”
However for Lincoln (7-3, 3-0), the hits came early as the Golden Eagles grabbed a lead in the first inning on a single by Madison Siggers.
The third turned out to be the decisive frame as Lincoln sent 10 batters to the plate and score four times.
Laynie Russell tripled to knock in Hannah Hall, who had singled. Russell then scored on a wild pitch.
After an unearned run, Alex Cox added a RBI single to put Lincoln in front 5-0.
Hagerstown (5-7, 1-2) was able to score twice in the fifth as the Tigers picked up their first hit against Hall, who was on the mound for Lincoln.
Ashley Strunk got the hit for the Tigers. After Victoria Pierson had a RBI ground out, Strunk then scored from third base on an error that made it 5-2.
Lincoln scored its final run in the bottom of the inning on a single by Sydney Miller, while the Tigers added a tally in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Gabby Willis.
Hall went the distance for the Golden Eagles surrendering three hits with seven strikeouts.
“Hannah has been doing a good job for us,” Griffin said. “She’s getting a lot of valuable experience for us.”
“She’s been moving the ball around and keeping the batters off balance,” he stated. “She’s been effective. You want a pitcher who is going to get outs for you. We were able to put runs on the board for her, which makes her task a lot easier.”
The five-run lead was critical for Hall.
“I thought I pitched pretty well,” she said. “I had defense behind me and I was just going out there pitching my game. I had more confidence and I could pitch my game. It just helped to have a big lead.”
Brytni Dale got the loss for Hagerstown as she also tossed a complete game with three strikeouts.
Russell and Siggers led Lincoln with two hits each, while Hall, Cox, Emmie Pugh, Kylee Smith and Dakota Harrison had one apiece.
Strunk, Morgan Masters and Taylor Kelley had hits for the Tigers.
Lincoln entertains Tri on Friday, while the Tigers are at home against Shenandoah on Saturday.