By SAM KING

Journal & Courier

 

Keeley Sanders left Clinton Prairie High School on Thursday with newfound confidence in her pitching abilities.

The McCutcheon junior shut down the Class A No. 10 Gophers in an 11-0 win.

With windy conditions, Sanders knew she'd have to keep the ball on the ground. She succeeded, forcing 15 ground ball outs.

"She keeps the ball down really well," McCutcheon coach Jim Bates said. "They (Clinton Prairie) hit a lot of ground balls and we like those because we have a pretty good infield."

Clinton Prairie stranded a runner on third base in the second, third and fourth inning. Each time, Sanders got out of the inning with a strikeout. She struck out two straight after an Ali Dieter triple in the second.

"I don't let it get to me because when I let it get to me, that's when I start to get rattled up," Sanders said. "Once I see somebody get ahead, that makes me want to get them out all the more. I make sure I hit them all precisely and get my flips right and get them out."

Meanwhile, the Mavericks took advantage of five Gopher errors to rout Clinton Prairie.

Katie McCool provided an infield RBI single and Megan Gray walked with the bases loaded in the second as the Mavericks built a 3-0 lead.

The Mavericks got two more in the sixth thanks to an RBI double by Katie Han and scored six runs in the top of the seventh after Gray and Tamlyn Poore reached on consecutive errors to lead off the inning.

Sanders supplied extra cushion for herself going into the home half of the seventh, driving a two-run single while Han, Gray and Chaunci Curwick all drove in runs in the seventh.

Sanders (2-0) gave up just three hits and allowed only four runners to reach base. She struck out five.

Clinton Prairie's Kara Werner (4-3) wasn't as fortunate, leaving after the first two batters reached on errors in the seventh. She gave up seven runs, but only three were earned.

Sanders, Han and McCool each had two hits for McCutcheon (11-7) and Han, Gray and Sanders each had two RBIs. In all, eight different Mavericks had a hit.

"The top of our order was getting hits, but the bottom was helping us out too," Sanders said. "I think that we saw each other hitting them and stayed up."

Aside from Dieter's triple, Shelby Orange and Jasmine Hanna had doubles for the Gophers (11-7).

 

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