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Brooklynn Ruble Lifts Bridgeport Softball Past Linsly

Photo by Kyle Lutz Bridgeport’s Brookylnn Ruble throws the ball to first base after fielding a grounder in a game against Linsly Monday afternoon.

WHEELING — While Bridgeport has only played three games so far this season, Coach Don Cash III has been ecstatic with the way his pitcher, Brooklynn Ruble has been playing. Monday was just another day at the office for the junior.

Ruble fired nine strikeouts and also belted a two-run home run and a RBI double as the Bulldogs defeated Linsly, 14-3.

After a couple of uncharacteristic plays in the early going, Bridgeport batted through its lineup in the third and fifth innings, plating six runs in each in the process.

“We have to cut down on the mental mistakes,” Cash said. “It’s only our third game and we’ve been in the gym a lot. Not a lot of action with the weather out here, but I was pleased with the way the girls swung the bat.

“We had two big innings and we were a lot more patient (Monday) than we were Friday at Toronto. But we have to clean up the little things, that make us better in the field and at bats.”

With the score tied 1-1, in the top of the second, the Bulldogs have runners on second and third with one out. Kamden Dulesky popped up to Linsly pitcher, Kelsey Smith.

Smith, seeing that the Bulldogs didn’t tag at third base, fired the ball to Maddie Clelland to complete the double play to get out of the jam.

However, the Bulldogs got things going in the next inning. Ruble gave her team the lead for good on a RBI double to make it 2-1. Briana Conaway also netted a double — her second of the contest — as two runs came in to score. Jaren Tucker tallied her second hit with a RBI single to put the score at 6-1.

“It was pretty even except for two innings,” Linsly assistant coach Darryl Crews said. “They have a good pitcher and we hit her hard some and they made some good plays. We had some mental errors that really hurt us, especially some with two outs where we couldn’t get off the field. We had a lot going on here with six of our athletes left to go to National Honors Society induction. That’s nice, but that hurt us a little bit. But the girls that came in, they did OK.”

Maddie Menendez started the game off with a triple and was able to score in the opening inning while Emma Robinson tallied a RBI double in the fifth inning to plate the final run of the contest. Clelland had the other hit for the Cadets while Smith fired three strikeouts.

“We have several very young girls that are very good ballplayers,” Crews said. “So we just try to find something positive out of each game even if its to find what we need to work on for the next game. We try to talk to them individually as we need to and corporately encourage them to do their best.”

After tallying a run in the fourth inning, Bridgeport scored six runs on five hits including Ruble’s blast over the center field wall in the fifth.

Tucker tallied four singles and one RBI for the Bulldogs while Conaway secured two doubles and three RBI. Emily Heslop pinch-hit and tallied a two-run single and Jessa Stockwell plated a run on a single.

“This is a veteran group. We only had to replace two starters,” Cash said. “Most of these girls were out there last year and been out there for two to three years with our older girls. We’re a veteran group. We expect that from them, that’s why when the little things they don’t do well, we expect more out of them and critique them.

“We hold them some of them to a higher standard, but I like where we’re at right now. We’d like to be 3-0, but we lost 4-3 in nine innings up in Toronto. Just to get out here when the weather looks good for the rest of the week, so we’ll get some games in and hopefully continue this success throughout the week.”

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