By Charles Chaney
New year, new coach but same Bluestem dominance.
Bluestem improved to 4-0 on the year with the sweep of Flinthills on Thursday night. Under first year head coach Ashtyn Jurging, the Lady Lions are keeping up with their level of play they’ve set over the last decade.
“I thought I was going to be her [Michelle Womacks] assistant,” Jurging said. “Now, I’m having to pay attention to everything and it’s a lot of fun.”
Womacks retirement surprised many but Jurging has the Lady Lions keeping up with the season so far. They’ve won three of their four games by run-rule and are finding their stride.
“It’s been a learning curve but my seniors are super helpful,” Jurging said. “I spent most of my time on the mound, so my seniors have helped me to fill roles that needed to be filled with younger kids.”
The 10-3 and 12-0 wins are where they want to be heading into Humboldt next week. While it took them a couple of innings to get started, it was like watching a train go down the tracks. It’s going to be hard to stop them when they get going.
“We have some young players, most of my infield is underclassmen,” Jurging said. “We do have some experience in Pilar [Cox] and Jewell [Carleton] that has put us in the right spots.”
Cox is heading to Neosho and Carleton is heading to Seward County next season for softball.
In the Tri-Valley league, it’s been Humboldt and Bluestem at the top of the league the last few season and this year has proven to be about the same. They are set to play next week.
“We ended up getting behind against Douglas and that seemed to light the fire underneath of them,” Jurging said. “I don’t want to be playing catch up the whole game and against a team like Humboldt either.”
Game 1: Bluestem 11, Flinthills 3
Pilar Cox had retired the first nine batters in Game 1 before Alex Scribner finally was able to connect with one. Scribner hit an inside-the-park home run for Flinthills to finally get them on board. By then, the Lady Lions had built a cushion on the scoreboard.
That was done the back of a team effort from Bluestem. They started a little slower than they would’ve liked but after a walk and a single from Cox, it was Carleton scoring on a passed ball to make it 1-0 Bluestem. They’d add another in the second inning when Evyn Neal reached via error and Elliana Pierson scored after leading the inning off with a walk.
Bluestem finally built some momentum when Samiya Worrell reached by error and would move around the bases on wild pitches with Cox and Pierson. All three would eventually score on wild pitches to put Bluestem up 5-0.
Flinthills had started the top of the fourth with three straight hits and that led to Karynn Gleason singling with one out to score Joliene Dragoo and put two on for the the Lady Mustangs. They would strand the runners but they had done some damage.
Bluestem put the nail in the bottom of the sixth after Dani Orphen reached on an error, Worrell singled to score Orpen. Pierson would score Worrell on the next at bat. Pierson would then score three batters later, pushing Bluestem to the 11-3 lead.
Cox finished the game 4-for-5 at the plate with three runs scored. She struck out nine and allowed hits in the circle.
Bluestem 11, Flinthills 3
FLNT 000 210 0—3 7 6
BLUE 113 114 X—11 7 1
W – Cox. L – Dragoo. 2B – Hiegler (F).
Game 2: Bluestem 12 Flinthills 0 (5 inn.)
Cox only allowed allowed eight baserunners in the second game, riding the momentum wave from the game, all the way to a 5-inning run-rule victory over Flinthills.
Bluestem put up two in the second inning on a pair of singles to put runners on then Cox singled to left, scoring Carleton and Neal.
In the second inning, the Lady Lions would bat around, scoring six runs in the frame and did it without any assistance from errors. After a walk and a single, it was Neal who would single to center, scoring a run. Then Carleton would send one back up them middle to score Neal. A couple of more singles loaded the bases and it was Worrell’s deep ball that flew into left field that emptied the bases and gave them an 8-0 lead.
They’d bring seven to bat in the bottom of the fourth. They would punch home three more runs with two outs, pushing the game into mercy-rule territory. Flinthills Walked Cox with the bases loaded scoring, Reagan Harold. Orpen then would double to score Neal and Carleton to make it 11-0.
Pierson would sac fly in the bottom of the fourth to score Lilly Husman to make it 12-0.
Six different Lady Lions had two hits in the game. They all reached base in the win.
Cox went all five innings and allowed only two hits and struck out seven, while walking three.
Bluestem 12, Flinthills 0 (5 inn.)
FLNT 000 00X X—0 2 0
BLUE 263 1XX X—12 14 3
W – Cox. L – Wood. 2B – Orpen (B)
