Arcanum softball team sweeps twin bill at Dixie

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NEW LEBANON – The Arcanum Trojans corralled the Dixie Greyhounds Saturday afternoon in a doubleheader at New Lebanon.

The first game was 22-4 in a five-inning run rule and the last part of the twin bill was a 10-1 seven-inning affair. The combined score of 32-5 was evidence of Arcanum’s devastating defense and opportunistic offense.

Arcanum’s twin wins catapulted the Trojans to a 10-2 overall mark. Dixie saw its record plummet to 1-13 with its lone win coming in the league against Northridge.

The first game saw the Trojans jump out to a 1-0 lead as junior Elle Siculan scored on a sacrifice fly to right by senior Mackenzie Sharitts in the top of the first.

Dixie responded well in the bottom part of the frame as sophomore McKinley Ruppert ripped one to dead center on the second pitch she saw for a home run for the Greyhounds. The Hounds later added on two more runs by a hard hit ball to center by senior Hannah Woolery.

The second inning produced no scoring outbursts by either squad as defense prevailed. Arcanum’s first hit was in this inning by freshman Gracie Garno.

The third inning saw the Hounds go down in order again, but Arcanum’s bats ignited for 12 runs on 10 hits with 14 batters coming to the plate with the biggest hit being a double by Sharitts. Sophomore Macey Hartman had two hits with two RBI in the same inning.

The fourth inning was not much better for the Hounds. The Trojans continued to pulverize the ball and place Dixie down in order with stellar pitching by Siculan.

The fourth inning saw seven more Arcanum runs cross the plate with nine more hits. Hartman again had two hits in the same inning. Shai Robinson and Garno provided added muscle with both of them adding run-scoring doubles. The score finally totaled out to 20-3 heading into the fifth.

The fifth inning turned out to be the last as the Trojans plated two more runs by senior Cassidy Clark’s RBI single and senior Kaitlyn Zell picking up her third hit of the game.

Dixie could only muscle one run in the bottom of the frame with a single by Aleah Baird doing the damage for a final of 22-4 as that 10-run run rule was invoked.

“We’ve been starting off slow, but that’s been our pattern,” Arcanum softball coach Rick Stone said. “We had that big third inning, and that brought us back on track.

“The pitching and defense was solid, but we must be consistent all seven innings. Mackenzie Sharitts had a great all-around game and senior Brittany Kinney made a play at third that got us all pumped up,” Stone said.

The second game of the double dip saw Arcanum’s Trojans marching in three runs to start the ball rolling. Sharitts had a big RBI double and Clark had the other single.

Freshman pitcher Macy Shelton shut down the Hounds with two strikeouts of the three she faced.

The second inning for the Trojans saw three more runs cross the plate with only one hit by Siculan. Handcuffing the Hounds were errors in the outfield and two passed balls.

The Trojans’ pitching again silenced the Hounds as only Tayler Jones was able to get a lonely single to right before the final out.

The third and fourth innings saw both squads go down with no runs crossing the plate. The Hounds had the biggest threat with McKinley Ruppert hammering a triple in the third, but Shelton closed the door with a strikeout and a ground out

The fifth saw scoring on both sides as Stone’s charges plated two runs and Brian Ruppert’s Hounds bouncing and pouncing in a run.

Dixie plated its only run of the game with Ruppert again doing damage with another triple plating Izzie Ziemba.

Arcanum plated its runs with only one hit by Garno.

The sixth inning saw both squads going scoreless as the Trojans went down in order, and Dixie was stymied by the Trojans defense. The Greyhounds laced a double and single but got thrown out at inopportune times.

The seventh inning offerings saw the Trojans almost stopping the game a little early by plating two runs for their total of 10. Robinson got the only hit of the final frame for the Darke County squad.

Dixie went straight down in the bottom of the frame with Shelton added two more strikeouts for a total of nine.

“We did enough to win the game, and I was pleased with the game effort,” Stone said. “Hats off to head coach Brian Ruppert and the Greyhounds as they came out ready to play with lots of emotion. However, we need to shore up our defense and play our brand of ball. Their pitcher was hard to adjust to, but we balanced that out with our freshman Shelton pitching a stellar game with nine Ks.”

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By Ted Landis, Jr.

For The Daily Advocate

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