Lady Hounds blast Augusta

By Mark Carpenter

People’s Defender

Taking advantage of what has been a rare warm and sunny day, the Manchester Lady Greyhounds softball squad was back in action on Monday, April 15, playing host to the Augusta Lady Panthers in non-conference action. The Lady Hounds had no issue disposing of their border state opponent, erupting for nine runs in the bottom of the first and cruising to an eventual 19-1 victory.

In that decisive first at-bat, the Lady Hounds sent 14 hitters to the plate, eight of them collecting base hits, including two-baggers from Jenna Campbell, Bristynn McClanahan, Mahayla Brown, Abby Neria and Elliana Applegate. Those runs were plenty for Manchester starter Rylie Young, who ended up tossing four no-hit innings while racking up 10 strikeouts.

To add to the nine in the first, the Lady Hounds tacked on five in their half of the second. This time, 10 batters came to the dish, eight of them reaching safely and five of them crossing the plate. A two-base hit by Young scored Campbell with the final run of the inning that gave the home team a commanding 14-0 advantage.

Manchester added two more in the bottom of the third, getting an RBI single from Neria and the second run scoring when Addilyn Hunter reached on an error. In the bottom of the fourth, the Lady Hounds finished up their big offensive day with three more runs, those produced on an RBI double by Young and a two-run single off the bat of Neria.

After Young’s four hitless, scoreless frames, Jadelyn Conley went to the center circle for the top of the fifth and allowed the only Augusta run of the day, but by then the outcome was long a foregone conclusion, Manchester taking the 19-1 triumph.

The now 4-2 Manchester squad pounded out 20 hits off of Augusta pitching, seven of those for extra bases. The Lady Hounds were scheduled to be back in action on Tuesday, traveling to North Adams for another Southern Hills Athletic Conference outing with the 4-5 Lady Devils. Hoping for weather cooperation, Coach Matthias Applegate’s squad will host Ripley on Wednesday in a makeup conference game and then host Fayetteville on Thursday in another SHAC battle. Friday brings another conference makeup game when the Lady Hounds host Whiteoak.