By Kyle Roberts
Ruston High’s softball squad (13-7) split two district matchups last week after a non-district win over Evangel at home last Monday.
“I think overall we played well last week,” Ruston head coach Lauren Garvie said. “Our bats were a little slow in the West Ouachita, but I’m proud of the girls for coming right back against Ouachita and hitting the ball hard. There is a lot of “want to” for lack of a better word, and this week we start over again. Our word of the week is “pursue”– we really don’t have much regular season left, so we take what we’ve done, be proud of it, and pursue the next thing.”
Monday, March 11: Ruston 7, Evangel 0
The Lady Bearcats shut out Evangel with sophomore Sage Tolar pitching a complete game, striking out five batters. Senior Shelby Freeman doubled in the bottom of the first to score two, while junior Morgan Foster took a bases loaded walk to score another Bearcat run in the bottom of the second. Both Freeman and Tolar finished with multiple hits.
Tuesday, March 12: West Ouachita 10, Ruston 2
Ruston would fall to the Chiefs after taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the second after Freeman score on a wild pitch. West Ouachita would outscore Ruston 10-1 for the remainder of the game.
Thursday, March 14: Ruston 10, Ouachita 9
In an exciting finish, Ruston would get a walk-off win Thursday against Ouachita after senior Murphy DeMoss doubled in the bottom of the seventh inning to score two runs for the win. Ruston led 6-0 at the end of the first, but a furious rally by Ouachita set up the exciting finish. Senior Cala Wilson, DeMoss, Foster and senior Jojo Fernandes all finished with multiple hits on the night.
Ruston returns to action tonight at West Monroe to continue district play.
