by Seneca Contomanolis
DigitalSports Richmond
All that extra batting practice made a difference for Midlothian‘s Rudy Edmunds and Cay Manuel.
Edmunds went 3 for 4 with an RBI and Manuel was 2 for 2 with an RBI as the Trojans defeated second-ranked Cosby 7-5 on Thursday.
The victory comes a week after Midlothian fell to Cosby and pitcher Whitney Haller 1-0 in eight innings, the Titans’ last game due to bad weather.
“Whitney Haller is a great pitcher and she got me last week,” Edmunds said. “I stayed in the cage after practice yesterday and hit multiple buckets or balls and it paid off today.”
Haller held the Trojans (8-1 Dominion, 10-3) to just two hits in their previous meeting, but on Thursday ninth-ranked Midlothian compiled 11 hits.
Edmunds (catcher) had two singles and a double while Manuel (shortstop), who also took some extra BP, had two triples.
Midlothian pitcher Krista Townsend struck out three and gave up nine hits but limited Cosby (6-2, 11-2) to five runs.
“She did extremely well,” said Trojans coach Denise Manuel of Townsend. “It wasn’t her best game but she held her composure when we started falling apart.”
Midlothian started fast and led 7-0 after the top of the third inning.
Mandi Rouse drove in Suzanne Spencer in the first on a line drive that Haller knocked down but couldn’t throw to the plate in time.
Cay Manuel tripled in Whitney Smith, an Edmunds single scored Manuel and then Edmunds scored on an error in the second.
Townsend helped herself with an RBI in the third and that was followed by two Haller wild pitches that allowed two runs to score.
“She could have thrown better,” said Cosby coach Ray Jeter of Haller. “But Midlothian did put the bat on the ball with runners on.”
The Titans responded with three runs in their half of the third. An error on a Megan Bell-Hill fly ball allowed two runs to cross the plate and then Morgan Reynolds hit an RBI triple.
Cosby continued to chip away as Reynolds would get another RBI in the fifth with a double and Brittney Burgess also doubled in a run in the sixth but that would be all the runs the Titans could produce.
Burgess finished 3 for 4 with two bunt singles and Haller had six strikeouts.
The victory should give Midlothian some confidence heading down the stretch of the regular season.
“It gave us a major boost today because we had a tough loss to them last week,” Edmunds said. “Hopefully we will continue to do well as we go on.”
Midlothian 133 000 0 – 7 11 2
Cosby 003 011 0 – 5 9 2
Townsend and Edmunds; Haller and Hall
Records: Midlothian (8-1 Dominion, 10-3); Cosby (6-2, 11-2)
Processing your request, Please wait....
