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Beadling, Huskies slam Red Devils, 11-1

FIELDING — Harrison Central catcher Lizzy Clelland fields a ball in front of the plate and prepares to throw to first base during Tuesday’s game against St. Clairsville. Huskies pitcher Tristen Kovarik gets out of the way. -- Kim North

CADIZ — It’s always nice to have a scouting report on an opponent.

Even though St. Clairsville and Harrison Central haven’t met in softball this spring, Huskies head coach Darrin Young knew from past experience what the Red Devils liked to do.

The information definitely helped, as the homestanding Huskies (9-2) pounded out double-figure hits again in routing St. Clairsville, 11-1, Tuesday high atop Sally Buffalo Park inside the Cravat Coal’s Cadiz Girls Softball Complex.

Although Young is a confident head coach, he surely didn’t expect the result.

“Definitely not,” he said while shaking his head “We got rained out last night (Monday), and we went back to the (batting) cage and hit and hit. We knew that their pitcher was pretty good and liked to work on the outside of the plate. If we could take the ball to right field, I told the girls we could be successful.”

Trailing 1-0 after half an inning, a single, base-on-balls and fielder’s choice loaded the bases with one out. Danyel Beadling cleared them with one swing of the bat when she launched an 0-1 offering from Jenna Jaskowiak well over the fence in right-center for a 4-1 lead the hosts would never relinquish.

Harrison Central would tack on three in the second inning (two unearned), two in the third and kicked in the 10-run mercy rule when Lexi Ferguson blooped a two-run, two-out double down the right-field line in the fifth.

“I never dreamt that we would win like this,” Young said. “But, when you get 10 hits, run the bases effectively, play solid defense and get great pitching, your chances of winning are going to be pretty good.”

Beadling’s grand slam was the key hit of the contest.

“That kind of set the tone. It gave the girls a lot of confidence and it carried on from there,” Young said.

Leadoff hitter Maddy Butler and No. 3 hitter Sarah Touville evenly divided six hits and a pair of runs batted in. Butler had three singles and scored four times in setting the table for the rest of the lineup. Touville added two singles and a double. Ferguson also singled.

Meanwhile, Kovarik was her steady self after allowing the lone run on Rachel Finnical’s RBI single. The right hander struck out four, walked just one and scattered five hits.

Hannah Thoburn had two singles for St. Clairsville (4-4).

“We knew coming in that Harrison Central was a good hitting team,” St. Clairsville head coach John Jaskowiak said. “We had five errors, and that’s way too many against a team like Harrison Central. We also didn’t hit the ball like we have been. We’ve been putting up a lot of runs lately, but unfortunately we hit a lot of balls right at them and it seemed like everything they hit was in the gaps or down the lines.”

Both teams are back in action today, as St. Clairsville visits Bellaire and Harrison Central hosts Indian Creek.

Harrison Central 11, St. Clairsville 1

St. Clairsville 1-0-0 0-0 — 1 5 5

Harrison Central 4-3-2 0-2 — 11 10 1

ST. CLAIRSVILLE: Jaskowiak lp (4K, 3BB), Thomas (4), (0K, 1BB) and Namack; Thoburn 2S; R. Finnical S, rbi

HARRISON CENTRAL: Kovarik wp (3K, 1BB) and Clelland; Butler 3S, rbi; Positano S, rbi; Touville 2S, D, rbi; Ferguson S, D, 2rbi; Beadling GSHR, 4rbi

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