Chase County had some midweek action on Tuesday as both the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs faced off against Marais Des Cygnes Valley. In a good day for both squads, it was a complete sweep of the Trojans as both teams handled business in different ways to leave with two wins each.
Starting with the Lady Bulldogs, it was business as usual for them. Lahna Passmore started in the circle and had a big day on both sides of the ball. The Lady Bulldogs got out to a fast start, and after three innings, they went up 11-1. The bats went quiet for the next two innings before coming alive again in the sixth as they scored three more runs to run-rule game one.
Passmore had a big day, pitching six innings, allowing four hits, four runs (two earned), walking two, and striking out six. She also went 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI. Dakota Phillips, Karlie Gibb, Naomi Peters, and Madelyn Wilson each had two RBIs in game one.
Game two of the doubleheader saw the Lady Bulldogs send out Natalie Neff to the circle, and she also had a big day on both sides of the ball. A six-run first inning powered the Lady Bulldogs to a quick start and they carried that throughout scoring in every inning of game two. They added two in the second and one in the third to make it 9-1. Then in the fourth and fifth, they tacked on nine runs to end the game after five innings as the final score was 18-3.
Neff pitched five innings, allowing five hits, three runs (one earned), walking one, and striking out five. She also was perfect at the plate going 3-for-3 with two walks and two RBIs. Briley Johnson and Peters followed Neff with two RBIs each in game two. With the sweep they move to 6-2 on the year and will travel shortly to Lyndon on April 9 for a doubleheader on the road.
In the Bulldogs’ doubleheader, their sweep was tightly contested, and in game one, they sent out Hudson Doty to start the doubleheader. He had to wait to take the mound, but he drove in the first run in the top of the first to open the scoring. MdCV answered back with a two-run bottom of the inning after an error and a walk set up a two-run single. The Trojan lead didn’t last long as Caleb Dexter guided a single up the middle, and an error gave the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead.
That lead continued growing with two more runs in the third as a Clark Miller groundout drove in one, and Brant Potter singled in the other. Doty had two clean innings of work after that first inning, and in the fourth, the Bulldogs scored four more runs. Most of the damage came from a two-run blast over the center field fence from Noah Green to make it 9-2. Those runs would be the last ones for the Bulldogs.
After three innings of work, Doty’s day ended as he allowed one hit, two unearned runs, walked one, and struck out three. The bullpen had to close out the game with the seven run lead, but the Trojans put two runs in the bottom of the fourth to mount a comeback effort. They put up runs in the fifth and sixth innings to make it 9-6 heading into the final inning.
Needing to close out the game, Brant Potter walked the first batter, then got two quick outs. He hit the next batter, and the Trojans hit back-to-back singles to score two in the inning. Potter then coaxed a groundout from the Trojans to end the comeback effort 9-8.
After a stressful game one, the Bulldogs sent Dominic Barrett to the bump to secure the sweep. The Bulldogs scored first again as Doty doubled in Wyatt Griffin to open the scoring, then the bats went quiet for a couple of innings. During that stretch, the Trojans put five runs on the board, two in the first and three in the third innings, to have a 5-1 lead.
Then the Bulldog bats awoke in the top of the fourth as two singles and a Trojan error scored one run. Another single, from Rex Griffin, and another error from the Trojans tied the game at five. The Trojans responded by breaking the tie with three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to make it 8-5. A clean fifth inning from both squads settled things down, but the sixth inning got rowdy again.
The Bulldogs wanted the lead back and put together a three-run inning to tie the game once again. RBI singles from Barrett and W. Griffin tied the game and finalized the comeback effort. Neither team scored in the seventh inning, and the game went into extra innings. In the eighth, the Bulldogs’ first four batters reached base, and with two outs, one strikeout and one out on the basepaths, Green drew a walk to drive in the winning run. The Bulldog bullpen closed down the game in the bottom of the eighth to win 9-8, again.
“It was really good for us. Both games were close games that could have gone either way. So I was proud of how our guys competed,” Head Coach Brent Monihen said. “We battled in a lot of different situations, and anytime you win two games like that, you come away feeling good.”
He adds that games like this will build confidence for his team, make them tougher, and it shows them they can win games no matter what the situation is. The Bulldogs move to 6-4 on the season and will have a quick turnaround after a stressful doubleheader sweep as they travel to Lyndon on April 9 for a doubleheader.
“Recovery is going to be the biggest thing for us. Lyndon is a good team, especially at home. So we’ll have to come ready to go,” Monihen said. “We’re going to continue to focus on throwing strikes, playing good defense, and continuing to have quality at-bats. If we can do those things, we’ll be in good shape.”