By Tim Farley
News Editor
A 10-5 victory over Ardmore Tuesday night placed Piedmont in the district’s driver seat.
Ardmore was the district’s top team heading into the matchup and Piedmont was No. 2.
The two teams will square off again Sept. 18 in a grudge match for Ardmore.
The win kept Piedmont’s win streak alive at six games.
Ardmore led 5-4 in the bottom of the fifth inning when Piedmont’s Jade Rowland doubled and knocked in two runs. The Lady Wildcats tallied four more runs in the sixth.
Piedmont’s Ellie Griffin, Tara Hibbler and Jordan Collins collected RBIs in the sixth.
Chloe Bohuslavickyk picked up the win on the mound as Piedmont advanced its season record to 18-3.
Meanwhile, two consecutive shutouts over Enid and Lawton MacArthur pushed Piedmont’s win streak to five games as the Lady Wildcats improved their record to 17-3.
The softball squad had no trouble against Enid as pitcher Bohuslavicky tossed a complete game and gave up only four hits while striking out five hitters as Piedmont earned an 18-0 victory. Bohuslavicky also drove in a run in the first inning with a single.
Piedmont tallied five runs in the first, a single run in the second and six runs in the third and fourth innings. The Lady Wildcats collected 21 hits in the shortened run-rule game with Collins, Kenedi Morelock, Bohuslavicky, Cozee Clark, Ashlyn Brown, Rowland and Hibbler collecting multiple hits. Collins was perfect at the plate as she hit safely in four at-bats.
Piedmont head coach Keith Coleman said the Lady Wildcats played “extremely well up and down the lineup.”
“Scoring 18 runs for us is very good,” he said. “Chloe is having a good year and has been a solid player the last two years. She’s having her best year yet, but we’re having a total team effort this year. We have several kids who are contributing and playing at a high level.”
Two days earlier on Aug. 28, Piedmont notched a 10-0 win against district opponent MacArthur as Bohuslavicky threw another complete game while allowing only two hits and struck out nine batters.
Meanwhile, Piedmont hitters collected 14 hits, including three from Ellie Griffin.
Bohslavicky, Sydney Kozikoski and Molly McDermott also had multiple hits for the Lady Wildcats. Piedmont also was hot on the base paths as three players stole at least two bases. Collins led the way with three stolen bases.
“The strength of our team is our team. We have a lot of depth. We have a number of kids who can step up and play different positions,” Coleman said.
With 18 wins under its belt, Piedmont looks like a strong contender in Class 5A, but Coleman isn’t looking ahead.
“Our kids are mature enough to know that everything we do is for the end goal. We have a lot of work to do before October,” he said.
UPCOMING: Lawton MacArthur comes to Piedmont Sept. 10.
