Scott County pitcher Marlee Tevis and Western Hills pitcher Brooklyn Etherington both pitched superbly when those two teams hooked up in high school softball action Monday at WHHS, but the visiting Cardinals played slightly better behind Marlee than Hills did behind Etherington, and 10th-ranked SCHS won, 6-0.
Tevis threw a five-hitter, striking out six and walking no one, while Etherington also threw a five-hitter, with two strikeouts and three walks.
“I thought she had really good command of her pitches today,” Scott County coach Scott Walters said of Tevis after his Cardinals improved to what he estimates is a 19-6 record.
“She stayed right around the strike zone, and she got stronger as she went on. She threw a lot of ground balls, and our defense was very sound behind her. We got those ground balls.”
Western Hills coach Jeff Pritchett called Tevis “a nice pitcher,” but indicated that his Lady Wolverines also did plenty to hurt their own cause.
“We had a couple nice hits, we just couldn’t string anything together,” Pritchett said. “And we had a tough time executing in certain situations. And against good, solid opponents, you have to execute. If you call for a bunt, you have to get it down. It’s that simple.
“But she is a really good pitcher and she’s only a sophomore, so she’s just going to get better,” he added, referring to Tevis.
The Cardinals picked up all the scoring they needed right out of the gate, scoring two runs in the first inning and two more in the second.
Tevis and Katie Stamper each singled in the first, with Stamper’s hit driving in two runs.
In the Scott County second, Maddison Mullin hit an infield single and ended up scoring when leadoff batter Michael Luckett hit a hard single to right and scored on an outfield error.
Western Hills generally played very well defensively in this game, but Tevis and the Scott County defense were so sound, there was little margin for error for the host Lady Wolverines.
“Defensively you take three plays out, and we have a 0-0 game and we’re still playing,” Pritchett said. “Errors cost us a couple of runs.”
Etherington did not get rattled by some shaky defense early, and settled down to match Tevis pretty much strike for strike the last four-five innings.
“She did a good job mixing up her pitches off the plate and up,” Walters said of Etherington. “She got a lot of pop-up outs. We chased those pitches when they were up in the strike zone. She did a good job moving the ball around and putting us off balance.”
“Brooklyn gives us everything every time she steps on the field,” Pritchett said. “She has what I call the Brooklyn personality. She cares and gives us everything.”
Elizabeth Owens had a double for Western Hills, while McKenna Brown, Tabitha Barnes, Whitley Bardroff and Lynsey McCoy all hit one single each.
Bardroff and McCoy had their singles in the fifth inning, but the Lady Wolverines could not take advantage of the opportunity.
Scott County finished the scoring with two runs in the top of the seventh.
Western Hills plays at Tates Creek today at 6.
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