Advance softball team pounds Leopold

~ The Hornets needed just five innings to beat the Wildcats 10-0

LEOPOLD, Mo. -- Eight games into the spring season, Advance softball coach James Hamlin wasn't pleased with how his squad was hitting the ball.

So the Hornets put some extra emphasis on hitting during some recent practices, and the results were there for all to see Wednesday afternoon.

Advance roughed up host Leopold for 10 runs on 15 hits, waltzing to a 10-0 whitewash that was called after five innings by the mercy rule.

"We had some hitting issues early last week, and we sat down and focused the last couple days last week and the first few days this week," Hamlin said after his team improved to 5-4 on the season. "We set out to hit the ball a lot better than we had been."

Mission accomplished. Five of the Hornets' hits went for extra bases, and Advance scored twice in the top of the first inning and three times in the second to jump on Leopold early.

"We still have some defensive lapses going on, but we're hitting the ball a lot better," Hamlin said. "We have a ways to go to be a complete team. We haven't played a complete game yet, but we're getting there."

The Hornets got to Leopold's Lexi Vandeven early as the Wildcats starter was plagued by control issues throughout the game. Vandeven allowed 10 runs -- nine earned -- on 15 hits, walked three and struck out six.

"We haven't been on the infield since last week because of rain," said Leopold coach Keenan Kinder after his team dropped its first game of the season after four wins. "I didn't feel like any of us was prepared really well. That's just part of it. That's part of playing in the spring.

"We're better that we played today. We move on. We've got Dexter [today], just come back ready to go."

With one out in the top of the first, Advance's Madison Brown singled to left and scored one out later on Sydney Bailey's double to deep center. Kimsey Lillard followed with a double to left-center that scored Bailey.

"[Vandeven] looked a lot faster than I thought she would be, but once I got up there I made solid contact," said Bailey, a senior first baseman. "But I wouldn't be able to do that without the team working behind me. It's my senior year, and this has been the best team I've ever had."

Bailey was 3 for 3 with a pair of doubles and four runs batted in, and cited her coaches for their time and effort in the batting cage.

"These coaches behind me have been helping really hard," she said. "They dedicate a lot of time. We'll stay an hour, hour-and-a-half after practice, just letting me hit."

Advance scored three times in the second as Madison Brown and Hannah Clark delivered run-scoring singles and Bailey walked with the bases loaded to force in a run.

The Hornets put the game away in the top of the fourth when Lillard belted a two-run double to deep left and Krystal James followed with a run-scoring groundout to make it 8-0.

In the fifth, Bailey stroked a two-run single to center that plated Brown and Clark to make it 10-0.

Clark set the Wildcats down in order in the bottom of the fifth to close out the win.

Nearly lost in the Hornets' hit parade was Clark's effort in the circle. The junior righthander allowed just two hits in five innings, walked one and struck out 10.

"Hannah was flat dealing, keeping them on their heels," Hamlin said. "They struggled to catch up with her. And she was placing the ball where she wanted it."

Clark didn't allow a Wildcats' runner to advance past second base.

"I was ready to go," Clark said. "I got a good catcher behind me who knows what she's doing and we work well together."

Lillard, the Hornets' catcher, gave the praise right back to Clark.

"She just kept hitting her spots, and that's what she needed to do," said Lillard said, who also had two hits and drove in three runs for the Hornets.

"We've improved so much," Lillard said. "We've practiced and we've practiced, and I think everyone wanted better for themselves."

A convincing win over a rival is a step in the right direction for the Hornets.

"The girls are making great progress," Hamlin said. "We've come a thousand miles from the first day of the year. And we've got a thousand more miles to go."

Advance 230 32 -- 10 15 0

Leopold 000 00 -- 0 2 2

WP -- Hannah Clark. LP -- Lexi Vandeven. 2B -- Sydney Bailey (A) 2, Kimsey Lillard (A) 2, Madison Brown (A). Multiple hitters -- Advance: Brown 3-4, Clark 2-4, Bailey 3-3, Lillard 2-4, Kendra Sokolowski 2-4, Jordan Eaton 2-3. Records -- Advance 5-4, Leopold 4-1.