For The Tribune

CROTHERSVILLE

No. 2 ranked Class 2A Henryville proved to be too much for Crothersville’s softball team to handle Tuesday.

The Hornets’ ace Peyton Ottersbach pitched a three-hitter while striking out nine Tigers in a 24-1 victory.

The Hornets also had 16 hits, two of which were drilled over the left-field fence by Emily Hollis while defensively committing one error.

The Tigers’ three hits were scattered among their first three batters: Brittany Clem, Kashmir Kelshaw and senior MacKenzie Farmer, who each tallied one hit.

In the bottom of the third, Clem singled, Kelshaw walked, then Farmer singled, followed by a walk to Allison Davidson which accounted for the Tigers’ sole run.

The Hornets’ coach called timeout and settled his pitcher down, and she calmly retired the next three Tiger hitters.

“We need to hit, and we didn’t do that tonight,” Tigers coach Hope McManny said. “It seemed like they hit the ball where we weren’t.”

Farmer was the starting pitcher for the Tigers. She gave up only one hit but walked five Hornets while the Tigers committed their first two errors.

Farmer gave up six runs before Brittney Clem came on in relief in the first.

The Hornets reeled off five consecutive hits against Clem and ended the first inning with 13 runs. They scored six in the second, one in the third, three in the fourth and one more in the fifth and final inning.

The Tigers committed nine errors on the afternoon.

“We had errors in the field, and that was an issue,” McMannamy said. “We have a lot to learn. We have a lot of young players. We only have two seniors. There’s a learning curve, and we’ve got to work to improve.”

The Tigers (0-8) have a doubleheader at home Saturday against the smallest public school in the state, Cannelton.