SPARTA — Highland softball pitcher Brittany Messmer struck out 12 in Game 1 and picked up a pair of wins as her Scots swept the visiting Fredericktown Freddies on Saturday, 1-0 and 12-2.
“In that first game we put some nice shots out there, but the Fredericktown girls kept getting their gloves on it and we couldn’t get a lot to fall,” Highland coach Shelly Hornsby said.
Highland catcher Mackenzi Rhodes provided all the offense in the first game, blasting a 3-2 pitch from Fredericktown’s Danielle Goeppinger over the left-field wall in the third inning.
“Mackenzi had a good swing for us,” said Hornsby. “She really drilled it. That was her first of the year.”
The rest was up to the Scots’ defense to make one run stand up.
“Fredericktown had good defense and we had good defense as well,” said Hornsby. “Very good pitching that Brittany provided for us. I don’t think we had any errors, so that makes a ball game right there.”
Game 2 was a decidedly different affair as the Freddies were bombed for 10 first-inning runs on nine hits. Rhodes blasted her second homer of the day and teammate first baseman Payton Denman added one of her own.
“When they get relaxed up there, they play the game they know how,” said Hornsby.
Messmer fired a five-hitter with five strikeouts in the nightcap to finish off the Freddies in a five-inning game.
“This might be my first team that can eat in between games and still come out and play,” Hornsby quipped.
Fredericktown coach Jeff Keener liked what he saw, despite a pair of losses.
“In the first game, we were right there and competitive,” said Keener. “Highland knew they were in a dogfight. We gave up the one pitch that beat us on the home run. The second game, the wheels came off. it’s tough to come back from a 10-0 deficit with a good kid like Messmer pitching for Highland. It’s disappointing, but it’s early.”
