BELLVILLE, Ohio — Lexington ace Abbie Sgro was as good as ever. Battery mate Morgan Zeigler was even better.
Sgro struck out eight and Zeigler belted a two-run home run in Lady Lex’s 14-2 Ohio Cardinal Conference win over backyard rival Clear Fork on a sun-splashed Tuesday afternoon at Clear Fork High School.
Lexington (9-5, 6-2) handed the conference-leading Colts (15-4, 8-1) their first OCC loss. The teams will complete the home-and-home series today at Lexington.
This was very, very important for us,” said Zeigler, who added a double and drove in three runs. “This win means a lot, but we have to come back with the same focus we had tonight because Clear Fork has the capability to bounce back.”
Dealing: Bouncing back won’t be easy for the Colts if Sgro is again on top of her game. The hard-throwing senior scattered four hits. She surrendered a run-scoring single to Becca Conn in the second and an RBI-double to Montana Walker in the third.
“They have been our rival for a while,” the Ashland University-bound Sgro said of the Colts. “We all definitely brought our ‘A’ game.”
Self-Inflicted Wounds: The Colts did themselves no favors, committing four errors. Lady Lex took the lead for good with three unearned runs in the top of the third. Lexington blew it open with a five-run sixth, highlighted by Zeigler’s two-run shot to left.
“They had the big inning, but you can trace that back to earlier in the ball game,” Clear Fork coach Jeff Gottfried said. “We made a couple of errors when we could have gotten out of innings. What that did was make our pitcher throw 15 or 20 extra pitches and allowed them to get through the order another time. If we don’t make those mistakes, maybe it’s a different game.”
Helping the Cause: Sgro helped herself with three hits, including a double. Freshman Chelsea Alt had a pair of doubles among her three hits, while Zeigler and sophomore Lindsey Winters each had two hits. Winters belted a two-out solo shot in the fourth.
“It’s a lot of weight off my shoulders,” Sgro said of Lexington’s 14-hit attack. “It feels great when I can see my team coming out there and show me what they can really do. It puts a lot less stress on me.”
One of Those Nights: Gottfried wasn’t panicking after Tuesday’s loss. The Colts still are a game ahead of Lady Lex in the loss column.
“Our girls have played a lot of games and I’ve coached a lot of games,” Gottfried said. “Nights like that are going to happen. It kind of snow-balled on us a little bit. It’s not that we quit trying.
“Our kids kept fighting and getting ready for tomorrow.”
“This win means a lot, but we have to come back with the same focus we had tonight because Clear Fork has the capability to bounce back,” Morgan Zeigler said.
