Softball: Kealey Rick’s hot bat helps lead Marquette over Woodland/Flanagan-Cornell for T-CC triumph

OTTAWA – With the game tied and the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth, Marquette Academy junior Kealey Rick said she was just trying to keep her mind clear but focused.

The plan worked.

Rick, who had smacked a solo homer in the second inning, lined a two-run single to left-center field to help the Crusaders top rival Woodland/Flanagan-Cornell 3-1 in a Tri-County Conference game at June Gross Field on a chilly and windy Wednesday afternoon.

[ Photos: Woodland/Flanagan-Cornell vs Marquette softball ]

“I was mainly just looking to get on base any way I could,” Rick said of her homer off WFC senior ace Shae Simons on a 3-1 count. “I’ve caught Shae before [in travel ball]. She’s a great pitcher that has great spin and can really locate her pitches. I wasn’t looking for a certain pitch or anything like that, I was just trying to see the ball out of her hand and put a good swing on it if it was a strike. I was actually trying to not overthink, just see and react.

“Really the base hit in the sixth was the same approach and mindset. I felt like I put a good swing on that pitch and fortunately it fell in for a hit and put us back in the lead.”

“We were able to get a few runners on throughout the course of the game, a number of innings the leadoff batter, but just weren’t able to get them around and in. In this conference with as good of pitching that it has you have to take advantage of every chance you get. We just weren’t able to do that today.”

—  Mike Hoekstra, Woodland/Flanagan-Cornell softball coach

The victory improved Marquette to 3-3 overall and 1-0 in the T-CC, while WFC falls to 4-2 and 2-2.

“Sometimes it just takes a couple of pitches to change the outcome of a game,” WFC coach Mike Hoekstra said. “For us, I thought we just took too many strikeouts looking. That said, we were able to get a few runners on throughout the course of the game, a number of innings the leadoff batter, but just weren’t able to get them around and in. In this conference with as good of pitching that it has you have to take advantage of every chance you get. We just weren’t able to do that today.”

Trailing 1-0 after Rick’s dinger, the Warriors tied the game in the top of the sixth off Marquette starting and winning pitcher Taylor Cuchra (7 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K). Simons, who went 3 for 3 in the game, led off with a single to left and with one out moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Lilly Libby. Kaiden Connor then lined a base hit to center to score Simons with the tying run.

“I was having pretty good success staying on the inside corner. I really didn’t feel like I was fully on today, but some of that I think was I didn’t warm up enough,” Cuchra said. “Eventually, [Woodland’s] hitters made the adjustment the third time around and I had to mix things up a little bit more. I pretty much went with my fastball the entire game and juts tried to hit my spots. I feel like coach Brad Oakes didn’t feel like Woodland had really hit any balls hard, so we didn’t want to change something that was working well.”

Cuchra then started the Cru’s half of the sixth by being hit by a pitch. Simons fanned the next hitter, but Avery Durdan lined a single to left and Makayla Backos loaded the bases with a bunt single. Rick stepped to the plate and ripped the first pitch she saw to give the hosts the lead for good.

Cuchra pitched around a one-out walk in the seventh to close things out.

Olivia Chismarick and Conner each finished a pair of hits for the visitors. Simons allowed just five hits in her six innings of work, with one walk (intentional) and 10 strikeouts.

“Kealey is a very good hitter; I play travel ball with her, and I’ve always seemed to have trouble getting her out,” Simons said. “She was really on today and when she came up in the sixth with the bases loaded, I knew it was going to be tough. The home run I got behind in the count and she took advantage of it, but the hit in the sixth, she just really hit my pitch. Sometimes good batters hit pitches well even when you put them where you want them. That was pretty much the case for me against Kealey today.”

Marquette plays at Annawan-Wethersfield on Monday, while WFC travels to take on El Paso-Gridley on Tuesday.