NELSONVILLE - Following an 0-2 start to divisional play, Athens softball has seemed to turn a corner over the past few days. Outscoring their opponents 32-6 over the past three games, the Bulldogs (8-3, 3-2 Tri-Valley Conference-Ohio) moved to over .500 in TVC-Ohio play on Thursday with a dominant 18-3 drubbing of Nelsonville-York on the road in five innings.
Athens would collect 17 hits and drive in 16 runs in the performance, led by a near-perfect outing from Kayla Hammonds. The star senior catcher would finish 5-5 at the plate, driving in four runs while scoring a game-high five runs herself. Khyla Brannon would finish with three RBIs on a pair of hits while Kendra Hammonds went 2-3 with a pair of RBIs.
Fern Sigman would grab two hits and a run driven in, while Ellie Beck-Aden, Rylee Toadvine, Chloe Hewitt, Evie Harland, Summer Forster and Erika Isphording all recorded one hit. All but one batter would end up grabbing a hit for Athens.
Sigman would throw her second complete game in the week, this time needing to only go five innings. The junior would allow three hits and no earned runs, striking out eight while allowing just one walk.
For the Buckeyes (0-10, 0-6 TVC-Ohio), Kaitlyn Alvis would grab two of the team’s three hits on the day, driving in a run while scoring one herself. Brooklyn Gerrity would tally the only other hit, grabbing two RBIs as well.
Ava Nungester would get the start in the circle for Nelsonville-York, throwing four innings while allowing 10 hits and seven earned runs, striking out two while walking five. Lexi Warren would throw the final inning.
Athens would strike early and often in this one, building up a comfortable lead before ever having to take the field for defense. In the first inning alone, the team would get RBI singles from Kayla Hammonds and Sigan mixed in with a sacrifice fly from Brannon to accrue a 4-0 lead after half an inning of play.
The Bulldogs would then tack on two more in the second with consecutive RBI singles from Toadvine and Brannon.
Alvis would get Nelsonville-York on the board for the first time with an RBI triple, scoring Alexis Freer. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes though, Athens was ready to keep bashing.
Just three batters into the third, Athens already got RBI hits from Beck-Aden and Hammonds to increase the lead even further. The Bulldogs would get one more across in the frame, opening up a 9-1 lead.
Scoring for the fourth consecutive inning in the next at-bats, Beck-Aden would get another RBI single followed by a bases-clearing triple from Kayla Hammonds to extend the lead to 13 runs. The hits would keep on coming in the fifth with RBI knocks from Isphording, Kayla Hammonds, Hewitt and Brannon to make it an 18-1 game midway through the fifth.
Nelsonville-York would grab its final run of the night in the bottom of the frame with an RBI single from Gerrity but the deficit was too much, inducing the mercy-rule as Athens secured another much-needed victory.
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