COLUMBUS — The Colum- bus High School softball team put on a dominant performance April 8 at Cardinals Field with a 14-0 win by mercy rule in five in -
nings against Rice High School. The Lady Cardinals put on
a show with their bats from the very beginning and it was too much for Rice to keep up with defensively. "After the big win against Hal lettsville last Friday, I don’t know if very many teams are gonna be able to stop us offensively now,"
said Columbus head softball coach Alfred Rosa.
Columbus stand out player Molly Garcia had a big game with a few big hits throughout the contest. "When I go up to the plate, I need to know that I need to do this for my teammates," Garcia said. "That comes not just for me, it's for all of us on this team.
I wanna do the best I can at the
plate to help the rest of the team." Rice heads back to the draw - ing board and looks to make some adjustments on defense. "My team, just having confi - dence," said Rice head softball coach Kylie Orsak on things they need to improve on. "They pitched it inside-outside, they were able to get my hitters reach -
ing for the ball. They were tak - ing the ball wherever my pitcher pitched it. My girls just got to have more confidence and able to play the game." Columbus scored their first run in the bottom of the first in -
ning on a shallow pop up to right field by sophomore infielder Al - lie Cranak after a hit by pitch.
Columbus added four more runs in the next inning on an infield single, a double from Garcia, a triple from senior first baseman Mia Post, and a double from se-
nior catcher Ellie Brown to take a 5-0 lead. The Lady Cardinals scored eight more runs in the next in - ning on a bunch of extra base hits, one being a home run over the centerfield wall from senior right fielder Abigail Wiggs to make it 13-0. Columbus' final run was tal lied in the bottom of the fourth inning on a base hit to right field from freshman McKenna Eden after another base hit, then pro - ceeded to record three straight outs in Rice's final at bat on a strikeout, a ground out, and a line out to win 14-0 in the top of the fifth inning by mercy rule.
