Lady Blues rout Bridgeport 17-0 in dominant victory

What started out feeling like a regular game later turned into an absolute blowout as the Graham Lady Blues defeated the Bridgeport Sissies 17-0.

For Graham (10-5), they were looking to bounce back from a tough weekend performance at the Iowa Park tournament and they did so in a huge way against Bridgeport (2-8).

Every player who got in the game for the Lady Blues recorded either a hit or scored a run in the rout of the Sissies. Six Lady Blues had multiple hits and six players scored multiple runs, some accomplishing both feats.

It was an all-around dominant performance on both sides of the ball for the team, as starting pitcher Reese Calhoun rediscovered her groove in throwing a shutout and the defense didn’t commit a single error behind her.

For the first three innings of the game, however, it appeared to be a relatively even matchup between the two teams. Neither team scored in the opening frame and Graham only scored one run in each of the second and third innings.

Olga Morales singled to leadoff the second inning and came around to score on a double by Zoey Harrell. In the third inning, the top of the lineup did the damage as Paris Tate singled and advanced to second on an error, then scored on a single by Calhoun.

The Lady Blues managed some other hits but only led 2-0 after three innings. But everything changed in their half of the fourth inning.

Taking advantage of a Bridgeport error to get a runner on, the Lady Blues hit a string of six consecutive singles to move runners around, and they brought in five runs in the inning to extend their lead to 7-0.

Meanwhile, Calhoun continued to rack up the strikeouts on the mound and keep the Sissies’ offense in check. Bridgeport only recorded two hits in the entire six-inning game — one in the fourth inning and the other in the sixth inning, both singles.

In the fifth inning Graham loaded the bases and brought two more runs home after Meagan Brooks got hit by a pitch and Morales walked to make the lead 9-0. The Lady Blues didn’t have enough runs to enact the mercy rule of a 10-run lead after five innings so the teams played on.

Finally, in the sixth inning, the Lady Blues nearly doubled their run total of the game as they exploded for eight runs in the frame, primarily on walks and singles. Eight players earned a walk in the inning and four girls singled to bring the score to 17-0.

As the home team the Sissies had the opportunity to respond in their half of the sixth inning but they couldn’t get anything going as Calhoun shut them down to seal the huge victory for the Lady Blues.

Calhoun pitched the entire game, allowed no runs and two hits, faced 20 batters and struck out 13 of them. She also went 3-for-3 at the plate with two walks and three RBIs.

Morales also finished a perfect 3-for-3 with two runs scored, two RBIs and two walks. Tate went 2-for-4 with three runs and two RBIs, Brooks went 2-for-4 with two runs and four RBIs and Emily Lawson finished 3-for-5 with a run scored and one RBI.