Softball: Lindsey Kaufmann, Marquette roll past feisty Putnam County

GRANVILLE – The Marquette softball team went into Tuesday’s Tri-County Conference game at Putnam County wanting to show their 10-0 victory in Ottawa on Monday was no fluke. The Panthers, meanwhile, went into the contest wanting to prove they’re no pushover.

Both succeeded and came away feeling a little bit better with the postseason looming.

The Crusaders capitalized on three Putnam County errors to score eight runs in the second inning and were just a couple of bobbled grounders away from repeating the previous day’s score. Putnam County took advantage of those bobbles to claw its way to four runs – all after two were out – to make the final more respectable in a 10-4 Marquette triumph.

Lindsey Kaufmann went the distance for the win, striking out five without a walk and surrendering nine hits, but no earned runs on the day. Kaylee Killelea and Eva McCallum each had three hits, Maisie Lyons drove in three runs, and Izzy Garkey clubbed a two-run triple in the big second-inning outburst.

“Having an eight-run lead would make any pitcher feel more comfortable,” Kaufmann said. “Though we had a little lapse in the sixth, we played great defense today.”

Taking the loss was Kara Staley, who allowed only one earned run out of the nine scored off her thanks to four PC errors. Paxton Stunkel pitched the last three innings, giving up a single run, and Zofie Uzella tagged two of the team’s hits that Kaufmann spread out over seven.

“I don’t think Lindsey had but 48 pitches through the fifth inning. That’s really efficient,” Marquette coach Brad Oakes said. “Izzy, Kaylee and Eva did a good job today, and my younger ones – Maisie, a sophomore, and Makayla (Backos) and Avery (Durdan) are freshmen – are all coming alive.

“The seedings out last week didn’t matter too me, much like they didn’t matter last year [when MA made 1A’s Elite Eight]. We just want to be playing good ball when the time comes, and we did that today.”

In the Crusaders second, Durdan led off with a single, then Lyons reached when her sacrifice bunt was erred. Another error on an Emma Rinearson bouncer allowed two runs to score, and a misplay on a bunt by twin Nora Rinearson added another. A fourth came in on another errant throw.

PC got the next two outs, but singles by McCallum and Backos, a two-run double by Garkey, a hit batsman and a two-RBI hit by Lyons capped the rally.

“I just knew I had two strikes on me and had to get the bat on the ball,” Garkey said. “My teammates were out there for me, so I had to do it. Getting those runs up for our pitchers just makes things easier for them.”

An RBI grounder by Emma Rinearson in the fourth, an Abby Leskanich triple and a run-scoring hit by Lyons in the sixth gave Kaufmann a 10-0 edge. But Putnam County didn’t give up.

After a single by Tori Balma and two forced outs, the Panthers were an out away from defeat when an Marquette error and RBI hits by Maggie Spratt and Salina Breckenridge got them on the board. Another Crusaders mistake added two more runs before Kaufmann could work out of it.

“Day 2 was a much better outing for us than Day 1,” Panthers coach Angie Heiser said. “Our players showed energy and effort the entire time and didn’t give up when we were down 10-0 and could have said, ‘We’re done.’ It’s great to see that they were still trying, we’re still in the game. Today my hitters seemed to have a little more confidence than they did against the pitcher [Kaylee Killelea] we saw yesterday, and it showed in their approach at the plate.

“Marquette’s always a tough team, and our approach is always ‘give them a game,’ and today we did. Back-to-back games with them gave us the experience against the kind of competition we’ll see in the postseason, and today makes that feel a little more manageable.”