By Ray Sarvis
FPS Correspondent
Like their baseball brethren, the Carrollton softball team played only one game over the past week. But unlike the boys, the Lady Warriors only had one game scheduled, so the weather did not play a role.
Another difference between Carrollton’s softball and baseball teams? The Lady Warriors’ game was not even in the same galaxy as the Warriors’ game in terms of being a low-scoring affair.
Whereas the Warriors knocked off Garaway 3-0, the Lady Warriors put their dangerous offense on display in a 19-7 thrashing of Wintersville Indian Creek. The contest didn’t start that way, however, as Carrollton led 4-1 through three innings before exploding for 11 runs over the last two frames, including a seven-run seventh.
The Lady Warriors battered Indian Creek’s pitching, racking up 17 hits and drawing nine walks—including six in just the seventh inning. Paityn Crank and Laiken Spilker each accounted for four hits, while Marleigh Osolin had three.
Speaking of Osolin, she was a terror on the basepaths, including one sequence in the sixth inning with Kearsten Ball at bat. Osolin, who had singled and was on first, proceeded to steal second, third and home during Ball’s at-bat to extend Carrollton’s lead to 9-3.
If Osolin was a terror running the bases, Crank was a nightmare for the Redskins in the batter’s box as she hit a bases-clearing triple in the top of the seventh that made the score 17-4 in favor of the Warriors.
Buoyed by the run support, Reagan Schneiders pitched a complete game for Carrollton (4-0), scattering eight hits—including a solo home run—and five walks over seven innings. She was charged with five of the seven runs scored by the Redskins, but it’s worth noting that three of Indian Creek’s seven runs occurred in the bottom of the seventh inning, which began with Carrollton enjoying a 19-4 advantage.
Crank went 4-for-5 with a triple, six RBIs and three runs, while Spilker was 4-for-4 with three runs scored and a stolen base. Osolin went 3-for-5 with four runs scored and five stolen bases, and Ball may have only had one hit, but she reached base twice more on walks, drove in three runs and scored twice herself as Carrollton, which has scored 47 runs in its last three games, improves to 4-0 on the season.