March 28, 2024

Wookey cruises as Murray bests O-M 10-0

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MURRAY – Kayla Wookey was on Wednesday night as she carried a perfect game into the fifth inning of Murray’s 10-0 win over Orient-Macksburg softball.

The Iowa Central pitching commit dealt her way to 10 strikeouts over the course of the evening, only allowing two Bulldog baserunners in the final frame.

“The biggest thing were the spots. ... When she can throw it where we call it, we’re going to be pretty good,” said Murray head coach Danny Jensen.

The Lady Mustangs got on the board in the first inning after Hailey Chew got things rolling with a leadoff single.

Abbe Baumfalk sacrificed her to third after Chew stole second, Bre Klein walked and Wookey drove Chew in on a fielder’s choice.

Kelli Romero, Bailey Frederick and Zoey Black followed as all three posted RBI doubles with the Lady Mustangs batting around in the bottom of the first, putting up five runs in the process.

Jensen was pleased with the team overall at the plate, given they’ve been unable to take the field to practice quite a bit in the early going due to rain.

“They came to play a little bit tonight,” said Jensen. “If nothing else we’ve had batting practice cause that’s about all we can do indoors.”

It was an Orient-Macksburg team that was coming into Thursday’s game with a little swagger after besting Moulton-Udell with a 15-run performance at the plate.

The Bulldogs couldn’t find their stride against one of the Bluegrass Conference’s toughest throwers.

“Maybe it was a little fatigue tonight at times,” said O-M head coach Mike Cooley of the Bulldogs’ third game in four days. “Our sights should be set later in the year. No matter what the score is in the game we need to play all the way through because our goal should be to get better with every pitch.”

Jensen thought Wookey pitched well as the Lady Mustangs were responding from an 8-0 loss to Southeast Warren to start the season.

“None of the girls were pleased with the effort against Southeast Warren,” said Jensen. “Even me, I underestimated them.”

Murray proceeded to tack on two more runs in the third inning and then three more in the fourth, started by Wookey, who peppered a solo home run to right-center field.

Chew ended the game with three hits and Frederick had two.

UP NEXT – Murray (1-1) looks to keep things rolling early on in the season as it heads to Seymour (0-1) today (Friday).

The Bulldogs (1-2) will turn around and play their fourth game in five days today (Friday) in Bussey against Twin Cedars.

“They’ve got a decent ball club and we like to think that we’re fairly decent,” said Cooley. “So far this season I’ve been pleased with the effort of the girls most of the time.”

Murray 10, O-M 0 (5)

R  H  E

O-M  000  00  —  0  2  3

Murr  502  3x  —  10  10  0

O-M: Kaela Eslinger 4IP 2K 2BB and Sammi Long. Murr: Kayla Wookey 5IP 10K 0BB and Zoey Black. W — Wookey. L – Eslinger. HR – Murr: Wookey. 3B — None. 2B — Murr: Kelli Romero, Bailey Frederick, Zoey Black. RBI — Murr: Romero 1, Frederick 1, Black 1, Wookey 1. Multiple hits: Murr: Chew 3, Frederick 2.