Monday, July 7th saw the Goderich U12 L’il Deckhands Fastball team hosting Crediton. Payton Swan drew the start on the mound with Jordyn Hodges and Katie Ridsdale platooning as the second half of the battery. Swan did a nice job of throwing strikes, and, trusting her solid defence behind her.
The offence came out swinging led by Zoe Milne and Lily Lierman at the top of the order. Hodges stroked a double putting the Seahawks in flight. Jamie Archambault then ripped a single followed by Emily “the softball magnet” Hartin who was hit by yet another pitch making her the most frequently “plunked” batter in this Tri County season. Ridsdale then proceeded to club a triple to left field plating runs four and five of the inning.
Crediton continued to battle putting pressure on the home side to make good plays on defence. The outfield, in particular Camryn Austin, did a great job of keeping some hard hit balls in front of them and hitting the waiting infield cut off. Shalen Kernighan, who had a nice game at the plate, led by example in the outfield with her hustle to back up her teammates on over throws in the infield. The two Paiges’, Chebott and Bauer, contributed to the clubs’ success on this night. Chebott, who never seems to have a poor at bat, continues to have a solid rookie season of putting the bat on the ball. Bauer, getting a rare opportunity to play the “hot corner”, snagged a grounder and threw a strike to second narrowly missing the force out and giving the young man in Blue a very tough call to make.
Archambault – 1st slide of the season!!!
After a shaky top half of the final inning, Goderich found themselves down four runs needing to score the league – set 5 run maximum if they were going to win this game. Abby Archambault, who has been working hard on her swing, came through with a lead off single. After a couple of tough strike outs to Bauer and Swan, Milne and Lierman scored on another double by Hodges who then stole home on a pass ball to tie things up setting the stage for an exciting finish. Jamie Archambault drew a walk. She then proceeded to swipe 2nd and 3rd during a good at bat by Hartin which saw her draw a walk. With Ridsdale at the plate, Archambault stole home sliding safely under the tag sending the home side to Cravings with an exciting 15 – 14 victory, and, leaving Coach Rhonda to marvel in the 3rd base coaches’ box at the Archambault slide as being the first of the season.
Next up for the L’il Decks is a morning workout on Thursday morning followed by a special Team Event in the evening at the Huron County Museum. Be sure to mark Sunday the 13th down on your calendar as the U12’s will be hosting a strong team from Lucknow at the Ag Park complex.