LEXINGTON — The weather finally cooperated Friday afternoon, so Lady Lex exchanged their umbrellas for brooms.
Lexington rallied for a 2-1 win over Madison in the first game of a rare Ohio Cardinal Conference doubleheader before cruising to a 6-0 victory in the nightcap.
The two-game home-and-home series was originally scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, but inclement weather twice forced the postponement of the games.
“I wasn’t thrilled to be playing a doubleheader,” Lexington coach Mike Hamman said. “We have to turn around and play Shelby at 10 a.m. (today).”
Madison (9-5, 6-4) struck first in the opener, taking advantage of two Lexington errors to score an unearned run in the top of the third. Leadoff hitter Liz Sutter reached on error and eventually scored on Lexington’s second miscue of the frame.
That is how it would stand until Lady Lex (7-10, 6-4) scratched a pair of runs in the home half of the sixth. Kaili Lyons drew a one out walk and scored the game-tying run on Lindsey Winters’ double down the right field line Winters took third on the throw to the plate and scored the game-winner on Caitlyn Ryan’s single to center.
“We finally got a big hit,” Hamman said. “We had a lot of opportunities early in the game, but we never took advantage of them. That has been the story of our season, missed opportunities.
“We’re young and we sometimes do dumb things. That is the price of learning how to play.”
Both teams have plenty of scoring chances in the opener. Lexington left seven runners on base, while Madison stranded eight. The Rams had the potential game-tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position in the top of the seventh but couldn’t push either runner across.
“We didn’t get a big hit in that first game and part of the reason we couldn’t come up with that big hit, I think, is because we couldn’t get a bunt down,” Madison coach Tim Niswander said. “We have preached and preached and preached all season that we have got to do the little things and right now we are not doing the little things right and it’s killing us.”
The Rams outhit Lady Lex 6-4 in the opener. Chase Carper had two hits. Bailey Kiser doubled.
Winters had two of Lexington’s four hits.
Abbie Sgro earned the win, striking out 12 and walking three. Freshman Paige Whisler took the loss, striking our four and walking three.
“Paige Whisler pitched a great game, especially for a ninth-grader,” Niswander said. “With a kid like Sgro, she can drop the hammer on you.”
Lady Lex took advantage of three Madison errors in the nightcap, scoring two runs in the second, sixth and seventh innings. Sgro had three hits and a run batted in, while Kirsten Allen singled, doubled, drew two walks and scored three runs.
Sutter, Alexis Crider and Katie Mullins had hits for Madison. Crider doubled.
Sgro picked up the win in the nightcap, striking out 11 and walking three. Kiser took the loss for the Rams, striking out six and walking four.
“The bottom line is we have to be more fundamentally sound,” Niswander said. “With the way Abbie threw tonight, she didn’t need a lot of help.”
Both Lexington and Madison are playing underclassmen all over the field. Lady Lex doesn’t have a senior on the roster, while Madison has just three.
“Both teams are young,” Hamman said. “We will take two or three steps forward and then we’ll take one step back.”
Niswander could relate.
“It can be a little frustrating,” he said. “Our younger kids survived on talent coming through and I don’t think they realized, at the varsity level, the attention to detail has to be better.”
Follow Curt Conrad on Twitter @curtjconrad.
A previous version of this story listed another batter as hitting the winning run in the first game. We have updated our information to credit the correct batter.
