Mohawk breaks through for five in 8th, shuts out Jackets

NEW RIEGEL-Neither team could seem to string hits together. Mohawk was down two outs, and Emily Brickner was on first base. Mallory Brickner slammed a flyball over the fence in center field that gave her two RBIs. Mohawk shut out New Riegel 5-0 on Monday in non conference action. "It took a little bit for us to get going," Mohawk coach Mindy Walton said. "We needed to hit the top of the ball, not popping out as often as we did. It finally sunk in but not until it did when it did. We talked in the circle that we need to be hitting consistently sooner." The energy continued with the Warriors (3-0) when Katie Woodland hit a single line drive out to left field. NR (2-1) then made an error after Aubrey Gottfried lined a ground ball that allowed Woodland to steal third base. Blake Miller came up to bat and it only took one pitch from Karsyn Piper for Miller to send her fly ball sailing out to right field and over the fence towards the baseball field. Woodland, Gottfried, and Miller all came through home plate. "I thought Karsyn did a phenomenal job on the mound," NR coach Tony Conner said. "Holding a team like Mohawk scoreless for seven innings is incredible. We just didn't do our part with the bats. If she is going to be out there working like that, then we need to make defensive plays and get runs." Conner admits that it starts at the top with him, but the team has to have better execution. "I thought Jacqui Tiell had a great day at the plate," Conner said. "But other than her, we watched too many strike outs, chased too many pitches that we knew were coming, and we have to be more disciplined as a team. Tiell,in the bottom of the fifth inning, doubled on a fly ball to left field. She advanced to third on a Lacey Schalk sacrifice bunt, but that is where she stayed as Gottfried struck out Claire Schalk and Lily Schalk. "Jacui is one of the best first basemen players in the area," Conner said. "The ball she hit was an inch away from a homerun. With Karsyn pitching the way she was, I needed a couple more Jacqui's today." Gottfried had 17 strikeouts in the eight innings pitched compared to Piper, who had 11. Gottfried struck out seven of the eight Blue Jackets in three innings before hitting her first and only walk of the game. In the meeting last season between the two teams, she had 10 walks. The loss comes on the heels of the one year anniversary of Jamie Lininger's passing, who was the athletic director and former coach of the Blue Jackets softball team. "It was a big day for everyone," Conner said. "A lot of things were on our minds, and I couldn't ask for more from Karsyn. We just have to be behind her more." The Warriors will be playing Seneca East back-to-back on Wednesday and Thursday before facing their toughest competition on the 13th against Colonel Crawford all in Northern 10 Athletic Conference play. "We have some good competition coming up," Walton said. "We are looking forward to the challenge. To have hit those two homers with two outs against a pitcher like Karsyn (Piper) who is one of the best pitchers that we will see all season, makes it exciting for us to see that early in the season." Mohawk 000 000 05–5 7 0 New Riegel 000 000 00-0 4 1