Coble strikes out 10 as Liberty softball downs Bridgeport

The big first inning provided the bulk of Liberty’s offense, and the Mountaineers added icing to the cake with a Charlee Johnson solo home run in the sixth.

“It’s always great to win a ballgame,” Liberty coach Eric Younkins said. “We hit the ball really well in the first inning, and we hit the ball all through the game right at them … Destiny pitched a great game, hit her spots really well. That two-seamer on the outside corner was just painting it every time.”

Bridgeport opened the game with back-to-back singles to put runners on first and third, and Rachel Mason scored from third on a dropped ball in the Liberty outfield to give the Indians the game’s first run. But Bridgeport only managed one more hit against Coble over the next four innings.

Freshman Kambre Crock doubled in the bottom of the first for Liberty and advanced to third and home on a pair of wild pitches to tie the game. After consecutive walks, Makiah Ford singled to drive home Johnson, and Riley Pearlman scored on an error on the same play to make it 3-1.

Ford later scored from third on a throw to first after a dropped third strike, Kylie Bumgardner-Swiger came home on a wild pitch and Savannah Weekley scored on a Kadence Crock single. Bridgeport found itself down 6-1 after just an inning of play.

“We know when we come in to play that we have to play a solid defense or we are going to get down,” Bridgeport coach Chelsea Holcomb said. “And tonight, we just struggled on defense in that first inning, and it’s hard for us to put the bat on the ball (on offense) … We’ve got to get better at doing that, and we’ve got to buy into our defense.”

Liberty nearly added to its lead in the second, but Bridgeport escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam with an infield fly, a strikeout and a groundout. Pitcher Chloe Pethtel and the Indians held off the Mountaineers for the next few innings but could not mount any sort of comeback of their own.

The offensive silence was broken with the first pitch of the bottom of the sixth as Charlee Johnson sent the ball beyond the center-field fence for a solo home run. It was the last run allowed for the Indians and Pethtel, who finished her six-inning outing with 11 hits allowed, two strikeouts and three walks.

Down to its last out in the seventh, Bridgeport got another run across when Skylar Elliott came home from second on a Liberty error. The game ended with a groundout to Coble on the following at-bat.

“It looks like there’s some rain in the forecast for the next three or four days, so I’m hoping we can get into the gym and get some good cage work in on just little things as far as batting-wise,” Holcomb said. “We’re not going to be power hitters at all, so we’re going to have to small ball teams and scratch and claw to get ahead.”

Kambre Crock, Johnson, Ford and Weekley all registered two hits apiece for Liberty. Younkins said his team’s success at the plate came down to fundamentals.

“Just smart base running, good at-bats,” he said. “Swinging at strikes, not chasing (balls).”

If weather permits, Bridgeport will be back in action at 5 p.m. Friday at Morgantown. Liberty is scheduled to embark on a road trip to the southern part of the state, visiting Shady Spring at 7 p.m. Friday and James Monroe at 1 p.m. Saturday.