Baseball
Cedar Creek (12-13) split a midweek doubleheader against Class 5A Ouachita Monday, winning 7-0 in Game 1 before falling 4-2 in Game 2.
Kade Luker went the distance in the opener, striking out 13 batters while allowing only one hit in 7.0 innings on the mound.
“Luker continues to give our club a chance while our bats were trying to get going,” said head coach Chat Yates.
The game was scoreless until the top of the fifth inning when the Cougars plated two runs. Cedar Creek followed with two more in the sixth and three in the seventh to pull away for the victory.
“Ouachita pitched a lefty (Wooley) that kept us off balance till the 5th,” said Yates. “We were able to put some pressure on them with the short game that led to us getting on the board.”
Brett Bell gave Creek a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the fifth and then the Cougars added a second run on a passed ball.
Creek used a sacrifice fly by Gavin Hall and an RBI single by Connor Yates in the sixth to push the advantage to 4-0. Cason Floyd put the game away with a bases clearing double in the seventh.
Luker (2-4, run), Yates (2-5, RBI), Micah Taylor (2-4, run), Kaleb Negrotto (2-2, 2 runs), Ryan Coleman (2-4, 2 runs) and Floyd (1-3, run, 3 RBI) were the key offensive contributors in the victory.
Luker is now 2-1 in his last three outings on the mound, allowing just one earned run while striking out 31 batters in 21 innings.
In the nightcap, the Cougars managed just one hit and couldn’t capitalize on five Ouachita errors in the 4-2 loss.
“We had a tough time getting anything going on Ouachita’s pitcher (Brady),” said Yates.
Ouachita plated three runs in the bottom of the third to take the lead and never looked back.
“JB Robinson ran into some command issues in the 3rd,” said Yates. “We were able to scratch a couple of runs off of a couple of Ouachita errors in the 5th.”
Robinson got the loss, allowing three runs on three walks and just one hit in 2.2 innings of action. Yates came on in relief and allowed just one run on five hits while striking out two in 3.1 innings.
The Cougars lone hit of the game was a single by Connor Yates while Luker and Hall each scored a run.
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Softball
The Lady Cougars (14-8) dropped a pair of games this week against Quitman (10-2) and Benton (9-4).
In Tuesday’s loss to the Wolverines, Quitman outhit the Lady Cougars 15-4.
Cadence Spangler and Hydi Boyd each recorded solo home runs for Cedar Creek in the loss, but it wasn’t enough as Quitman hit three home runs, including one by LA Tech commit Maggie Guyotte, and got a solid effort in the circle by LSU signee Cali Deal.
Deal struck out nine while allowed just two runs on three hits in 6.0 innings of work.
Anna Claire Fitzgerald and P Wall recorded the only other two hits by Cedar Creek in the loss.
Kendall Ramsey took the loss, allowing eight runs — three earned — on nine hits and three walks in 3.2 innings. Ava Lantrip tossed 3.1 innings in relief, allowing two runs on six hits.
In last night’s loss to Benton, Presley Wall registered three hits and Anna Claire Fitzgerald drove in a pair of runs.
Creek took a 3-0 lead in the first inning, scoring one run on an error and two more on a two-run single by Fitzgerald.
Benton responded with one in the second and two more in the third to tie the game at 3-3. The visitors then took the lead on a two-run home run in the top of the fifth inning.
Creek responded with an RBI single by Boyd to cut the deficit to 5-4. However, a two-run triple, an RBI single and another run-scoring triple by Benton in the sixth inning pushed the advantage to 9-4.
Ramsey took the loss, allowing eight runs — five earned — on 11 hits in 5.0 innings in the circle.
