By Bridget Bauer
Despite knowing the Bryant Lady Hornets were facing one of — if not the — best pitcher in the state, Coach Debbie Clark still wanted her team to go up against the Russellville Lady Cyclones.
The Lady Cyclones’ Andrea Kindrick held the Lady Hornets (0-1) to three hits and struck out 13 batters on the way to a 4-0 victory Thursday evening. With only one hit last year against her, the three hits were an improvement.
After Kindrick fanned eight of the first nine batters, Bryant was able to string consecutive hits together in the bottom of the fourth with two outs on singles by Kaley Coppock and Sydney Gogus. Then Kayla Jolley grounded out to end the inning.
“It’s hard when she throws 60 mph and then changes speeds, and her ball has unbelievable movement,” Clark said. “The girls kept saying as a coping mechanism that she isn’t that fast, but she is that good.”
Jolley started on the mound for the Lady Hornets but got into trouble in the third inning as Russellville tallied all of their runs in that frame. Two singles, two doubles and a wild pitch were the catalysts for the Lady Cyclones.
“Andrea is also a hitter not just a pitcher,” Clark said. “We were going to walk her, but in softball you have to pitch to the batter. You just can’t put her on. We hadn’t practiced that and had a wild pitch.”
Jordan Williams took over for Jolley and, in 4 1/3 innings, relinquished two hits, four walks and struck out five batters. For the game, Russellville tallied 11 hits.
“Jordan did a great job, and her change-up was on,” Clark said. “The Russellville coaches said it should be illegal because it was so nasty. You couldn’t do anything but cut it.”
Julie Ward tallied the other hit for Bryant on a single in the fifth.
Clark noticed a few areas for improvement as the Lady Hornets missed a couple of cuts in the outfield and a ball dropped between second base and right field because of miscommunication.
“It was a hard night, but we have to play these types of games to get better,” she said. “We want to be better than last year and have a better season than last year. The thing is, this will make us mentally better.”
