Northern scores in bunches, defeats Southern 11-2

ACCIDENT — No. 3 Northern scored in half of its offensive innings, but made it chances count.

The Huskies (6-4, 3-2 Western Maryland Athletic Conference) scored three runs in each of the first two frames and added five in the sixth to defeat Southern, 11-2.

“I thought we showed up to play today,” Northern head coach Kadi Cosgrove said. “That was the best I’ve seen that team hit. They scored early, and usually that makes us get down on ourselves. But today, I don’t know, I guess it gave us some motivation.”

After the Rams (4-6, 0-3 WestMAC) scored on an error in the top of the first, Northern scored three in the bottom half.

Ava Wilhelm hit a two-run triple before a wild pitch put the Huskies ahead 3-1.

“They came out to fight, they came out to compete, we did not,” Southern head coach Amber Hill said. “They were the better team on the field. They handled the delay better. They bounced back, they competed the whole time. We handed them the game.”

Northern doubled its lead in the second, scoring on Rain Ritchey’s triple, a wild pitch and a two-base error.

“Rain pitched really well and we came out and started hitting,” Cosgrove said. “We’ve been really working on hitting in practice. We knew Adeline (Wilson) was a good pitcher, we knew she threw a lot of off speed. She mixed it up a lot, and we were ready for it.”

Southern added a run in the top of the sixth on a double from Wilson (Maryland-Eastern Shore commit).

The Huskies pulled away with five runs in the bottom half.

Ritchey and Camilya Burley each drove in a run on a base hit.

Both players recorded three hits with Ritchey adding a pair of RBIs.

Burley’s three hits are a career-high for the freshman.

“She has been hitting really well for us,” Cosgrove said of Burley. “I think as a freshman, she’s really stepping it up and showing us that she deserves a spot in the lineup.”

The Rams committed three errors in the inning and six overall.

In the bottom of the sixth, three Southern errors led to three runs.

“Defensively, we gotta play the ball,” Hill said. “We have to find a way to be aggressive, not be fine with the ball playing us. Hitting the ground, hitting the grass, in the batter’s box. We’ve got to be more aggressive, we’ve gotta see the ball, we’ve gotta do better in the box offensively.”

The Rams left runners on base in four of the seven innings and stranded five overall.

Ritchey went the distance, allowing one earned run on six hits with no walks and 11 strikeouts.

Wilson was charged with 11 runs (four earned) on 12 hits across six frames, adding four strikeouts.

Northern hosts No. 5 Fort Hill (7-4, 3-3 WestMAC) on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.

Southern plays at East Hardy (6-4) on Wednesday before hosting Mountain Ridge (4-7, 0-2 WestMAC) on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.

“Bottom line is, Rain threw well,” Hill said. “She knew our weakness, she knew we struggled with that down and in and down and out. We just chose to stand and watch it instead of trying to compete, put the bat on the ball. Rain threw well, she threw the better game.”