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Franklin Monroe designated player, Kristen Stryker, scores in the third
as Ansonia catcher Jaylen
Thwaits loses the ball at the plate before
the tag can be applied. Stryker hit a two run home run in the
fifth as
the Jets took an 8-3 victory over the Tigers. CNO Photos by George
Starks
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Franklin Monroe
wins big conference game
Stryker delivers big blow in fifth
By George Starks
PITSBURG- Franklin Monroe coach Mike Morris is quickly becoming one of
the better small ball coaches in the Cross County Conference.
Tuesday, Morris was looking to play his brand of ball against Ansonia.
With Carrie Baker leading off the fifth reaching after being hit by a
pitch, Kristen Stryker went to the plate and Morris wanted a sacrifice
bunt, looking to move Baker to second, in a 3-3 game.
Stryker failed after two but attempts, putting her in a two
strike hole.
Morris, yelled to her form the third base coaches box saying, “Just put
the ball in play.”
Stryker, right on cue, sent the next pitch over the left field fence,
giving the Lady Jets a 5-3 advantage.
That hit would start a scoring frenzy as Franklin Monroe would send
nine to the plate in the frame.
Putting five runs on the board, the Jets rolled the Ansonia Tigers,
8-3, in Cross County Conference action.
“It was amazing,” said Morris. “She was still mad after she scored
because she couldn’t get the bunts down. When the ball cleared the
fence, I fell to the ground but I told her that she still had to get
the bunts down. I mean what are the chances of getting a homerun in
that situation. However, she is our senior pitcher and she’s got a
broken hand and she stepped up. She’s been out of the line-up most of
the season since she broke her hand. I think now, she’s back in it.
Maybe I should just tell her to put the ball in play more often. That
was awesome.”
In the circle was sophomore, Emilee Morris.
Morris surrendered a single run in the second and two more in the third
on run scoring hits by Jaylin Thwaits and Brooke Neal.
After that, the game belonged to Morris as she allowed only three hits
the rest of the way (seven total) with a walk with four strikeouts on
the night.
“Ansonia is a good hitting team and they hit her hard,” said Morris.
“She’s just a sophomore and teams are going to hit her hard. We just
have to make the plays behind her. There were times when they had our
backs against the wall and she would come up with a big strikeout.
We’ve had little time to work with her but she’s coming along. Maybe we
can get her in the weight room and who knows, next year she might be
something special out there.”
In the field, the Jets were nearly flawless.
With only one error in the field, the Jets defense would bend but would
never really break, despite allowing a run in the second and two in the
third.
“One of our main focuses is our defense. That’s what we’ve built this
program around,” said Morris. “We left runners in scoring position
which I didn’t like (five total). We were down 3-1 in the middle of the
game and I was getting a little nervous. Our hitting came through and
we started rolling. Hitting is contagious and we got hot at the right
time. That fifth inning was huge for us.”
On the other side of the field was Ansonia coach Floyd Jenkins who was
looking at a game that featured five errors, three that led to Franklin
Monroe runs.
“They hurt us,” said Jenkins. “When you play six or seven games and
some back to back, it’s hard to work on these things. Tonight, our
defense let us down but I saw some positive things to. We were doing
the little things like the hit and run plays. We have to continue to
improve on these things.”
Jenkins looked at the fifth inning and what happened and the bottom
fell out on the Tigers game.
“We had her (Baker) down with a 2-2 count and hit her with a
change-up,” said Jenkins. “You have to give them credit though. They
hit the ball hard and found the gaps after the home-run. They hit it
hard.”
On offense, the Tigers collected seven hits with five going for extra
bases, including a triple by Allison Phillippi in the fifth with two
down.
“Our offense was decent tonight,” said Jenkins. “When we can eliminate
the mistakes, I feel we will be a dangerous team.”
Now 7-9 (2-3), the Tigers will host Mississinawa Valley tonight while
the Jets, 10-7 (5-3) will host Bethel tonight also.
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Lady Jets sophomore Emilee Morris delivers a pitch during action at
Franklin Monroe
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