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Varsity Softball Handles Ceres In 15-3 Victory
Brown
Escalons Molly Brown puts the bat on the ball in Friday afternoon action against Ceres, helping her team to a big 15-3 victory in the non-league contest. She also got the win on the mound. Marg Jackson/the Times

Once again, the weather was the winner.

In two out of three games scheduled this past week, rain postponed the contests. The only day Escalon’s softball squads got on the field was Friday, when both the varsity and JV girls hosted Ceres.

For the varsity Lady Cougars, it was a 15-3 win, the home squad jumping out on top with a five-run first and never letting the Ceres team catch up.

Head coach Art Brooks was pleased with the win but was disappointed that the team didn’t get in either one of their league games – slated to take on Ripon on Tuesday, March 20 and Mountain House on Thursday, March 22.

“Both got rained out, the weather has really been killing us,” Brooks said.

Non-league play against Ceres did give the Lady Cougars the chance to get in some live action and they made the most of their afternoon.

Molly Brown pitched and scattered five hits while striking out six, allowing just three runs.

“Our offense pounded out 19 hits,” Brooks noted. “We scored five runs in the first, one in the second, four in the third and five in the fourth.”

In the first inning, Chardae Hoskins got things started with a single, Morgan Reider tripled to drive her in. Hannah Boyd then doubled to drive in Reider, and Hailie Webster ripped an RBI single. Lexy Underwood singled and stole second and Kayla Kemp drove in a run on a ground out. Madison Kimble then notched a two-out RBI double to bring in the fifth run of the inning.

The Lady Cougars continued to pound out the hits and the game went just four-and-a-half innings because of the 10-run rule. They scored in every inning.

For the game, Morgan Reider was 3-for-3 with a triple and four RBI, Hannah Boyd went 3-for-3 with two doubles, a triple and five RBI.

Also contributing to the hit parade was Chardae Hoskins with a double and three runs scored in a 3-for-4 afternoon, Molly Brown was 3-for-4 with an RBI. Kayla Kemp was 2-for-3 with two runs batted in, Madison Kimble went 1-for-2 with a double and an RBI and both Hailie Webster and Lexy Underwood went 2-for-3.

No information about the JV game was available by presstime.

The outlook for this week’s weather looks more promising to get in games, with the Lady Cougars scheduled to host Hughson on Tuesday, March 27 after The Times went to press and then the JV and varsity girls will be at Hilmar for a game on Thursday, March 29.