Bulldog Softball Goes 2-1 At Home Tournament

This year's Big Spring Bulldog Softball Invitational Tournament was held on Saturday April 20th at multiple locations within the school district, to include the softball fields at the High School, Mt. Rock Elementary, and Oak Flat Elementary.  This years event featured 8 teams, to include the host Bulldogs, Chambersburg, Shippensburg, Harrisburg, State College, Dallastown, Northern Lebanon, and Central York.  

 The Bulldogs opened their tournament play facing the Northern Lebanon Vikings.  Big Spring was assigned the visiting team slot for this game so they came up to bat in the top of the first.  Big Spring went down in order in the first, then taking the field with Maeve Hurley on the mound. Hurley had a three up, three down inning with no baserunners allowed.  The Bulldogs managed a two out threat in the second inning on a single and hit batter, but were unable to score.  Hurley continued her shutout pitching, putting the Vikings down in order again in the second.  Big Spring was out in order in the third inning, as was Northern Lebanon, as the game appeared to have become a pitchers duel.   

The Bulldog bats woke up in the top of the fourth inning as Maeve Hurley doubled, followed by an Izzy Fry double, followed by a Zoey Zimmerman single, and the lady Bulldogs finished their half of the fourth with a 2-0 lead.  Two singles and a passed ball allowed the Vikings to get one run back in the bottom of the fourth, closing the gap to 2-1, Big Spring.  The fifth and sixth innings saw neither team score, with Big Spring also not scoring in the top of the seventh.  Northern Lebanon comes to the plate in the last inning of regulation with the Bulldogs still clinging to a 2-1 advantage.  Two Viking singles, and a passed ball later, and the game was tied 2-2, after seven, so it was on to extra innings. The Bulldogs failed to score in their half of the eighth, and in the bottom of the inning, the Vikings pushed across one run, handing Big Spring a heartbreaking 3-2 loss.  Izzy Fry led Big Spring with 3 hits and 1 RBI, with Zoey Zimmerman getting 1 RBI also.  Maeve Hurley and Zoey Zimmerman both pitched for the Bulldogs, combining for 8 strikeouts, with Zimmerman taking the loss in relief.

 Next up for the Lady Bulldogs were the Harrisburg Lady Cougars.  The Cougars came to the plate first and ended their first inning with a 1-0 lead on a Malauni Frost home run off starting pitcher Cadence Killian.  The lead didn't hold long, as Big Spring started their half of the first with a single by Kendall Boring, a hit batter, a single by Maeve Hurley, followed by a double by Davina Raudabaugh, another hit batter, a Cougar error, a Sydney Adler single, two walks, a wild pitch, another single by Kendall Boring, a double by Victoria Rinaldi, and a single by Davina Raudabaugh.  When the inning was over, the Bulldogs had plated 11 runs.  Harrisburg went down in order in the second, then the Bulldogs came to the plate again.  Big Spring's second inning started with a walk, a Harrisburg error, a hit batsman, another error, a single, another error, then two consecutive singles, for 6 additional Bulldog runs and a 17-1 lead.  In the top of the third inning, Harrisburg again failed to score, and the game was called by the officials on the mercy rule.   Big Spring scored 17 runs on 10 hits, with Kendall Boring and Davina Raudabaugh each having 2 hits, with Raudabaugh and Zoey Zimmerman each with 3 RBIs.  Cadence Killian was the winning pitcher, allowing 1 run with 6 strikeouts.

 

The third and final opponent for the Bulldogs were the Dallastown Lady Cats.  Dallastown had lost their initial game to State College, followed by a win over Shippensburg.  Maeve Hurley was the Bulldog starting pitcher, and she put the Lady Cats down in order in the top of the first. Again, Big Spring wasted no time in their half of the first, a lead off single by Kendall Boring, followed by a walk, a wild pitch, then a Davina Raudabaugh single, and the Lady Bulldogs had a 2-0 first inning lead.  The Dallastown second inning was a replay of the first, as they went down in order again.  The Big Spring second consisted of a walk, a hit batter, a Dallastown error, a double by Kendall Boring, then another walk, and the lead was now 6-0 after two.  In the top of the third, the Lady Cats loaded the bases but were only able to score one run, cutting the Bulldog lead to 6-1.  Not slowing down in their half of the third, the Bulldogs started with a single by Zoey Zimmerman, two walks, two consecutive Lady Cats errors, and three more runs for Big Spring, pushing the score to 9-1.  The Dallastown fourth inning was their most productive as they were able to plate two runs, cutting the Bulldog lead to 9-3.  But, the Bulldogs didn't slow at all, as they exploded in their half of the fourth for 5 more runs and a 14-3 lead.  The game was called after four innings (time limit) and Big Spring had their second win of the day.  The team was led by Kendall Boring with 2 hits and 3 RBIs, followed by Davina Raudabaugh with 2 hits and 1 RBI.  Maeve Hurley was the winning pitcher, allowing 1 hit and 1 run with 3 strikeouts.  

 

After losing a tough, one run opening game, the Lady Bulldogs came back and did what they do best, hit the ball and score runs.  The next home game for Big Spring is Thursday April 25th at 4:30p, a rematch with their rivals, the Shippensburg Greyhounds.