RANDY HISNER
WZBD.com
Just like in a pop music countdown show, the hits kept coming.
The first five and seven of the first eight Bellmont batters pounded out hits in the top of the first inning in the Braves’ matchup with the host Kokomo Wildkats Saturday morning in the Kokomo Softball Tournament.
The result was a 4-0 Bellmont lead before the ‘Kats (5-4) knew what hit them. The Braves (6-1) went on to score four more runs while giving up just a pair of unearned runs to notch an 8-2 victory and a berth in the championship game Saturday evening against the 4A eighth-ranked South Bend St. Joe Huskies.
Leadoff hitter Emily Bleke started the hit parade with a double to right center. The next four Bellmont hitters—Sami Christen, MaryKate Schuemann, Taylor Bauer, and Mackenzie Mankey—all lashed singles, giving the Braves a 3-0 lead. (The Wildkats did get one out during the streak when catcher Jordan Thatcher threw out Christen on an attempted steal.) Pitcher Bella Ashley followed with a fly out to left field, but Liz Bobay and Ella Franze restarted the rally with back-to-back singles to produce another run before Kokomo starter Amirah Marciniak struck out Aaliyah Faurote to end the inning.
Freshman Bella Ashley pitched a gem for the victory. She went the distance, yielding only four hits and three walks while striking out three and giving up no earned runs.
“She’s been doing a really good job out there,” Bellmont coach Mindy Buuck said of Ashley. “It’s fun to see her out there just being confident. She doesn’t seem like a freshman when she’s on the mound. It’s good to see her know that she just has to get it over the plate, and the defense will back her up.”
The Braves’ defense did commit three errors, but Ashley’s helpers also made several excellent plays on the artificial turf field in the state-of-the-art Kokomo stadium, including a double play in the second inning. With one out and Kokomo’s Kinley Martin on first, Bellmont shortstop Aaliyah Faurote ranged to her left to snare Lucy Goad’s sharp grounder up the middle, stepped on second to retire Martin, and fired to first to get Goad, ending the inning.
The Braves made it 5-0 in the third on Franze’s second hit of the game, a single to right field that drove in Ashley, who had drilled a single down the left field line. Bellmont’s sixth run came when singles by Bleke and Christner set up a first-and-third situation, followed by a double steal that plated Bleke.
A quartet of pinch hitters expanded the lead to 8-0 in the fifth. Finnley Godsey reached on a dropped third strike to start the inning. Brynlee Straub followed with a single, and Godsey scored when the Kokomo infield botched Carissa Mickley’s potential double-play grounder. Sophia Cole then hit a sacrifice fly to left to drive in Straub.
Kokomo’s two runs came in the fifth, on a walk to Goad, Dani Tate’s sacrifice bunt, an infield hit by Marciniak, and Faurote’s errant throw to first on Taylor Reed’s grounder. Ashley allowed only one baserunner the rest of the way, and even that was on an error.
Bleke, Franze, Bobay, and Christen all had two hits for the Braves. Mankey and Franze each drove in a pair of runs.