Lady Bison carry first inning bats to best Wheatland
May 15—CHEYENNE — Cheyenne South didn't let a slow start in the field and a Friday afternoon rain delay hinder its bats early on.
The Lady Bison went into the bottom of the first inning trailing 1-0, but turned five hits into a 6-1 lead that they carried to a 11-1 victory over Wheatland in a five inning contest.
"In the top of the first, we started out a little slow," South second baseman Allie Robért said. "But after that, the team immediately locked in and trusted each other and backed up (pitcher Michaela Moorehouse) which gave us the ability to do really well in the bottom (of the inning)."
Robért started the hitting with a leadoff single that hugged the third base line and rolled into left field. She was brought home by an Alyssa Albaugh double and another double to center field from Aubriana Garcia scored Albaugh. Moorehouse and Baizelle Cozad connected on two more singles to knock in two more runs with the other two first-inning scores coming from Wheatland errors.
Albaugh and Robért scored South's two second inning runs after Robért singled again and Albaugh hit a ball to right field that was misplayed by Wheatland's Jayden McDaniel. Albaugh found herself rounding second base and was sent home on the throw.
The top of the second and third innings saw only six batters come to the plate for the Bulldogs. It took longer than she would have liked, but Moorehouse started finding her spots and got into a rhythm in the circle.
"I felt like I didn't get enough of a warmup in," she said. "I felt a little rushed, but once we started hitting, that gave me a little more confidence with my pitching and I started to zone in.
"I was throwing a lot of my screw and my curve and they weren't really touching it."
In the top of the fourth, Wheatland (0-16 overall, 0-12 East Conference) managed to get its first runner on base since the first frame after Gracen Mount was hit by a pitch. However, the Bulldogs couldn't find any momentum and Robért laid out to make a play on a ball that looked like it was going to reach center field for the final out.
South coach Curtis Quigley labeled it as a highlight.
"Our first web gem in the field with Allie, she makes a diving effort to get an out," he said.
After Moorehouse fanned three batters in the top of the fifth, Cozad hit a double to right field that allowed Andraya Dimas to score on an error and Cozad to advance to third. Torisha Brown followed by grounding into a fielder's choice to first base that scored Cozad and ended the game early.
"We executed our game plan," Quigley said. "Our approach for (Friday) was driving the ball to middle and right field and all of our big hits early were to right and center and that's what I'm most proud about, is we executed our game plan."
Robért was 3 for 3 at the plate and scored three runs. Albaugh was 2 for 3 with two RBI's. Moorehouse also drove in two runs while striking out six and only allowing four hits.
The Bison (2-9, 2-9) travel to Laramie today for their final game of their inaugural softball season. First pitch of the varsity contest is slated for noon at the Sandy Aragon Softball Complex.
"We'll just enjoy what we have left," Quigley said. "One last ride for our seniors."
SOUTH 11, WHEATLAND 1 (5)
Wheatland.............. 100 00 — 1 4 6
Cheyenne South...... 620 12 — 11 10 0
Wheatland pitching: Fitzwater and Coates. Cheyenne South pitching: Moorehouse and Albaugh.
W: Moorehouse. L: Fitzwater.
2B: Wheatland 1 (Fitzwater); Cheyenne South 4 (Garcia, Moorehouse, Albaugh and Robért).
Robert Munoz is a writer for WyoSports. He can be reached at rmunoz@wyosports.net. Follow him on Twitter @rmunoz307.
