Whiteland broke open a scoreless game in the third and cruised to a 10-0 six inning win over Greenwood Christian in the first round of the Johnson County softball tournament Friday at Franklin.
The Warriors will face Franklin this morning in semifinal action.
It was a total team effort for the Warriors (11-11), who won their fourth straight game.
Freshman pitcher Debbie Hill fired a one-hitter, striking out six along the way and allowing only two baserunners.
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“We’ve really been able to piece some things together this week,” Whiteland coach Katie Mitchell said. “Debbie Hill did such a nice job and Haley Wilkerson also did a nice job behind the plate, being a wall.
“Our defense also looked pretty solid.”
At first, this had all the makings of a close game.
Both Hill and Greenwood Christian pitcher Hailey Haynes, also a freshman, looked sharp, keeping batters off balance with their selection of pitches.
Whiteland solved Haynes thanks to an error and three singles in the bottom of the third, scoring three runs.
It was pretty much the same in the fourth inning, as another costly Cougar error and a pair of hits gave the Warriors three more runs.
The big hit was an RBI triple by No. 9 hitter Hailee Park, who looked like anything but the last batter.
Park was 3 for 3, with two RBIs and three runs scored on the day.
After scoring one run in the fourth, Whiteland added three more runs in the sixth inning, thanks to triples by Jordan Smith and Aniyah Haley, to end the game early.
“They took advantage of some of those deep gap hits and that’s what we want to do,” Mitchell said. “They did a nice job.”
All told, the Warriors had 10 hits, four of them for extra bases.
Besides Park’s big night, Macy Cornelius had two hits while Haley knocked in three runs. Hill helped her cause with a double, a run scored and an RBI.
The only hit Greenwood Christian (8-5) could muster was a single up the middle by Katie Potter.
“I love that our wins have been team wins,” Mitchell said. “We had 10 runs scored by seven different people.
“Everyone is doing their job, moving their runners, getting on base when need be, and our defense has looked pretty solid.”
