Campbell gets to Bloomfield ace late in rout of 'Cats

The common theme for the Bloomfield High School softball squad this spring has been that the Wildcats will compete, and that sophomore Kendall Phillips will work on the mound.

Both were true in Monday’s outing at Campbell – for a while.

The Camels (1-4) took a 5-2 lead into their final at-bat and tallied three walks, two hits, and a couple of hit-by-pitches, as the hosts scored five runs and prevailed 10-2 for their initial win of the spring season.

For Bloomfield, it got six hits off of sophomore Campbell throwers Hartlee Wills and Kaitlyn Weidenbenner but couldn’t convert those hits into much offense.

On the mound, Phillips labored through 4 1/3 innings before being relieved for the first time all spring.

“Kendall has pitched her whole life,” veteran Bloomfield coach Charlotte Phillips said recently. “She is built to be a pitcher.”

On Monday, Phillips threw 75 pitches (39 for strikes) and gave up three hits, as many earned runs, while walking four batters and striking out six.

“I’ve got a couple of other girls trying to work on pitching,” Phillips said a week ago, “but they aren’t there yet.”

They were on Monday.

Wildcat sophomore Leilani Hall and senior Mollianne Dodd each pitched in the loss.

Hall threw 1 1/3 innings and gave up three hits while Dodd notched the final out.

For Phillips, it was a fairly typical outing, as she worked through the productive Campbell lineup.

In earlier games, Phillips has struck out nine (against Scott County Central), 13 (against Dexter), five (against Leopold, Bernie, and Richland), and seven (against Delta).

“She can move her fastball in and out a lot,” Charlotte said of Kendall. “She can work her changeup, but we are still working on that. She has a little bit of a curveball.

“I’m proud of her. She has stepped up and done the job. To have to pitch in four games in a week, that is tough.”

Weidenbenner led the Camels with a couple of hits to go with two runs scored and an RBI while junior Kamryn Weeks (two runs, one walk), senior Ava Baggett (one hit, two runs, one RBI, one walk), junior Payton Akridge (one hit, one run, three RBI, one walk), freshman Sabine Johnson (one hit, one run, one walk), Wills (three walks), sophomore Sarah Bunting (one run, one walk), senior Katelyn Lynch (one hit, one run, one RBI, one walk), and freshman Ryann Durham (one RBI) were also productive.

Johnson connected for a two-bag hit while Akridge had a pair of stolen bases.

Baggett, Weeks, and Weidenbenner also made one theft each.

Wills threw 3 2/3 innings and gave up two hits, two earned runs, two walks, and struck out five Wildcat batters.

Weidenbenner pitched 3 1/3 innings and allowed four hits, no earned runs, no walks, and struck out three.

Dodd led the Bloomfield offense with two hits and a run scored while sophomore Kilee Schott (one hit, one run), sophomore Maybree Miller (one hit), sophomore Lilith Webb (two walks), Phillips (one RBI), freshman Evelyn Pellet (one hit), Hall (one RBI), and sophomore Hannah Watson (one hit) also contributed.

Bloomfield (3-4) will visit Puxico (0-1) today at 4:30 p.m.

Campbell will host Caruthersville (1-4) on Wednesday at 4 p.m.