CALEDONIA — There was no way Kaydence Sudduth was going to get under a pitch for a third time.
After hitting very high fly balls in her first two at-bats, Caledonia’s senior third baseman came up with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the fifth of a tie game and belted a double to the fence in center field.
Sudduth took third on the throw home and scored on a double to left-center by Madalyn Dvorak, and the Cavaliers were on their way to a nine-run inning and a 12-2 win over rival New Hope on Tuesday night.
“I’ve been trying to work on hitting outside pitches, but they kept pitching me inside,” Sudduth said. “And I was stressed out because that’s usually my good pitch. I talked to my coaches, and they tried to help me figure out what to do. They helped me do it, and that’s what happened.
“I needed to swing earlier, and I was just waiting.”
Addison Finch and Lauren Brown opened the big inning with singles, and Brooke Knoop reached on an error. One out later, Sudduth blasted the Cavs into the lead. Dvorak scored on a single by Emily Baucom, and, after another out, Finch followed a walk to Avery Johnston with an RBI single.
Brown was hit by a pitch, and a dropped fly ball in the outfield cleared the bases.
“The last few games we played the girls have really swung the bat well,” Caledonia coach Andy Finch said. “You get some runners on, put pressure on the defense, you start hitting the ball, and it’s fun to watch.”
The big inning made a winner out of Ashlyn Jordan, who scattered four hits over six innings, striking out six and walking three. Four of the strikeouts ended innings.
“My rise ball was working; people were swinging at it,” Jordan said. “And my cutter was on.”
“We know she’s going to give her best every time she’s out there,” Finch said of Jordan. “She threw strikes, got ahead in counts, and she’s tough. She wants the ball in big games, she wants the ball against good teams, and we like pitchers like that.”
Jordan made very few mistakes: Zoe Goodman led off the New Hope second with a double to right-center and scored when second baseman Emma Bryant laced a single on a two-out, 0-2 pitch. The second run scored when ball four to Lailah Henderson sailed to the backstop, allowing Bryant to come home.
That tied the game, just in time for Caledonia’s explosion in the bottom of the inning. Jordan spent most of the inning on the bench; she fouled out for the first out and walked as the batter after the three-run error.
“I like long innings,” she said. “It makes me get a little break.”
Jordan allowed only an infield single in the top of the sixth, and the Cavs ended the game in the bottom of the inning when a throwing error plated the 12th run, triggering the mercy rule.
It was nothing like the first game between the teams, when the Trojans defeated the Cavaliers 8-7 on Feb. 25, the only blemish on Caledonia’s 6-1 record.
“It was a real close game,” Finch said of that loss. “Both teams battled hard. Any time we play them, it’s going to be a war. We know that, and they know that. We’ve got a lot of good players in this school district. It’s always a fight.
“They know each other, they play with each other on travel ball teams. It’s always a friendly rivalry, but it’s always a rivalry you want to win.”
Brown went 2 for 2 with a double and three runs, while Baucom and Finch each had two singles. The Cavs also drew seven walks, and every player in the lineup reached base at least once.
“One through nine in the lineup put the ball in play tonight,” Finch said. “There are no easy outs in our lineup.”
Jordan has been pleasantly surprised by how well the Cavaliers have played in the early part of the season. Aside from the loss to New Hope and a 3-1 win over East Webster, Caledonia has been routing its opponents, including Amory (11-1), New Site (9-0), Belmont (12-2) and Lamar County (22-9).
“This team has really impressed me,” Jordan said, “and everybody else.”
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