Lady Wolves Shutout Stars in World Series Opener

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Co-Lin Softball team began their play at the NJCAA Division II Softball World Series with a game against the twelfth-seeded Lansing Stars on Tuesday, May 23. The Lady Wolves beat the Stars by a final of 8-0 to advance in the winner's bracket of the tournament.

"I thought we had a great opener here at the national tournament," stated Co-Lin head coach Meleah Howard. "We came out and were able to play our game the whole time. We had good at-bats, pitched it very well, and made some great plays on defense."

The game was scoreless after the first inning of play, but the Lady Wolves broke the scoreless tie with four runs in the bottom of the second inning as Abby Grace Richardson (Brookhaven) hit a leadoff single to start the inning and then stole second. Richardson then scored the first run of the game on an RBI single by Belle West (Byram) giving the Lady Wolves a 1-0 lead. Skyler Speights (Monticello) and Leia Phillips (Philadelphia) then drew back-to-back walks to load the bases with one out. West then scored as Faith Kivett (Tallulah, LA) drew a third straight walk while Speights then scored on a sacrifice fly by Josie Meggs (Kosciusko) to give the Lady Wolves a 3-0 lead. Madison Moak then hit an RBI single scoring Phillips and increasing the lead to 4-0.

The Lady Wolves added a single run in the bottom of the fourth as Meggs hit a one-out single, advanced to third on a single by Moak, and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Maddie Weeks (Clinton) increasing the lead to 5-0.

The final three runs came in the bottom of the fifth as Belle West drew a leadoff walk and then advanced to third on a single by Speights to put runners on the corner with one out. Maggie West was then brought in as a pinch runner for Speights and stole second. Belle West then scored on an RBI single by Phillips making the score, 6-0. Phillips then advanced to second while both runners advanced bases on a wild pitch as Maggie West scored increasing the lead to 7-0. Phillips then scored the game-ending run on an RBI single by Kivett giving the Lady Wolves the 8-0 win.

The Lady Wolves totaled 10 hits as a team with Madison Moak leading the way going 3-for-3 at the plate while Josie Meggs, Maddie Weeks, Abby Grace Richardson, Belle West, Skyler Speights, Leia Phillips, and Faith Kivett had one hit each. Kivett led the Lady Wolves with two RBIs while Meggs, Moak, Weeks, West, and Phillips had one RBI each. Belle West also reached base in every plate appearance today as she officially went 1-for-1 at the plate and drew two walks in her other appearances.

Cara Biswell (Brandon) got the start for the Lady Wolves and improved to 17-2 with the complete game win allowing just two hits with one walk and six strikeouts.

Co-Lin improves to 44-9 overall and the Lady Wolves return to action with a matchup against the fourth-seeded Cobras of Parkland (IL) on Wednesday, May 24 at 1 p.m.

"I am just glad to see this group come out and take care of business on this stage," added Howard. "It would have been very easy for them to come out and play uptight and nervous, but they did not. They played Co-Lin softball and now we are looking forward to a matchup with a really good Parkland team."