Raiderettes finding ways to win in every aspect of the game

Mt. Ayr 13, Lenox 1
The Raiderettes traveled to Lenox to face the Lenox Tigers to close out the month of May last week.
The Mount Ayr girls came out to prove something, a day after getting blanked by the Wayne Lady Falcons, by scoring 11 in the top of the first, that included a three-run home run by junior Zoey Larsen.
In the win, Larsen was two-for-three at the plate with the home run and a double.
Payten Lambert also had a great night. Lambert was three-for-four with three singles and three RBI on the night, while also recording two runs.
As a team, the Raiderettes recorded 15 hits in 30 at-bats to boast a .500 average on the night.
Freshman pitcher Zoey Reed started in the circle for the Tigers.
Reed allowed 11 runs, six earned, with six hits, but did strikeout one.
The Tigers made a pitching change to eighth grader Delaney Funk who recorded one strikeout, but only allowed one run on four hits.
The change put the Raiderettes on their heels, keeping the Raiderettes off the board until the fourth inning.
The Tigers were able to stay alive, scoring Zoey Reed in the third inning to make the contest a 10-run game.
The Raiderettes saw Addy Reynolds in the circle.
Reynolds threw 71 pitches, allowing one run on five hits and one strikeout.
Reynolds was backed up by freshman shortstop Jaxy Knight who saw seven total chances in the field and recorded five assists and two putouts, a stat line that was a stark contrast from her performance against Wayne that included one total chance and one putout, along with a couple of stops but missed opportunties of outs.
Knight reflected on the last 24-hours and the change of her mindset.
“I went in there feeling scared and I realized you can’t do that,” said Knight. “My team is here to pick me up and they’ve been doing that and making me feel good. It makes me not think too much about it.”
Knight was humble though, expressing that mistakes happen, but it’s how you respond that matters.
“I feel like I’m going to make mistakes still, but that’s just part of the game,” said Knight. “Not everyone has a good night and I just know my team will be there to pick me up.”
The Raiderettes moved to 3-1 on the season with the win over Lenox
“As a player, after a loss you hate to play the next day, but as a coach you love it, because you get to see what your team is made of,” said coach Bret Ruggles. “We came out here tonight and we just attacked Zoey Reed. I was very happy about our offensive effort.”
Stats
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 F
MA 11 0 0 2 x x 13
LEN 0 0 1 0 0 x x 1
Hitting
AB H R BI
Lambert 4 3 2 3
Streit 4 3 3 2
Reynolds 4 3 2 1
Larsen 3 2 2 3
Clark 1 0 0 0
Vanderflught 0 0 1 0
H.Barnes 4 2 1 1
Nickle 2 0 1 0
Lumbard 0 0 1 0
L.Barnes 2 1 1 0
Ruggles 2 1 0 0
Knight 0 0 0 0
Henle 2 0 0 0
Wise 1 0 0 0
TOTALS 30 15 13 10
Pitching
IP H ER R K
Reynolds 4 5 1 1 1
TOTALS 4 5 1 1 1
Mt. Ayr 15, SWV 1
The Raiderettes traveled to Corning last Thursday to face the 2-3 Southwest Valley Timberwolves where the Raiderettes closed the contest out after five innings. The game was close early, with the Raiderettes leading 3-1 after three innings, but the Timberwolves stalled in the second after their first run went across the plate.
The Mount Ayr girls bats got hot in the fourth inning, scoring five, before closing the door with seven in the fifth to end the game, that was augmented by a Zoey Larsen two-run homer.
“I hit two fouls before it and I saw it was a meatball down the middle and I was like this is it,” said Larsen.
In the circle, Addy Reynolds, started the contest and went three innings, allowing one run on one hit and striking out four for the win.
Larsen closed the contest, pitching two innings and allowing one hit and striking out three.
“At the Wayne game it was hard, but after you just have to remember that it makes you better,” said Larsen about coming back to close out a game after giving up a 12-0 loss to Wayne. “You just have to go out there and pitch like you know how to. It feels great [to get the win] it feels a lot better than the last one.”
Stats
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 F
MA 2 1 0 5 7 x x 15
SWV 0 1 0 0 0 x x 1
Hitting
AB H R BI
Lambert 4 1 1 1
Streit 4 1 3 0
Reynolds 3 1 2 0
Larsen 3 1 1 2
Vanderflught 0 0 0 0
H.Barnes 3 1 1 0
Nickle 4 1 1 0
L.Barnes 4 4 2 1
Ruggles 2 1 1 0
Clark 0 0 1 0
Henle 2 1 2 0
Lumbard 0 0 0 0
Knight 0 0 0 0
TOTALS 29 12 15 4
Pitching
IP H ER R K
Reynolds 3 1 1 1 4
Larsen 2 1 0 0 3
TOTALS 5 2 1 1 7
Mt. Ayr 5, Bedford 1
The Raiderettes hosted the Bedford Bulldogs last Friday and came out with a 5-1 victory, to improve to 5-1 on the season.
The Raiderettes put Zoey Larsen in the circle, where she allowed only one run on two errors and struck out four batters.
The Raiderette bats were led by Hayden Ruggles with three trips to the plate and two hits.
Breya Nickle saw one run on one hit and made a nice slide into home to beat out a throw to help the Raiderettes.
Nickle is also the teams catcher and for the first time, called the pitches for pitcher Larsen, something that hasn’t quite been done since the Raiderette power duo of Caroline McAlexander and Abigail Barnes.
In the field, the Raiderettes committed only one error and recorded 19 putouts on 31 total chances with 11 assists.
“Offensively a little frustrated with the pop-ups,” said coach Bret Ruggles. “Baseball and softball you always focus on hitting, but there’s two more aspects of the game. I am extremely happy with this team. We defended really well tonight, Jaxy Knight did a great job tonight. People look at the offense and may say we struggled tonight, but we didn’t. We played really well.”
Stats
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 F
BED 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
MA 2 0 0 1 0 2 0 5
Hitting
AB H R BI
Lambert 4 0 0 0
Streit 4 1 1 0
Reynolds 3 1 1 1
Larsen 3 1 0 1
Vanderflught 0 0 0 0
H.Barnes 3 1 0 0
Nickle 2 1 1 0
L.Barnes 3 1 2 0
Ruggles 3 2 0 0
Henle 2 0 0 0
Knight 0 0 0 0
TOTALS 27 8 5 2
Pitching
IP H ER R K
Larsen 7 2 0 1 4
TOTALS 7 2 0 1 4