Bill Lusk | WVOW Sports
MAN Morgan Cooper had a mammoth day as Man defeated Van 9-0 on Friday evening at Man High School.
Cooper went 2-for-3 at the plate with a grand slam, four RBIs and two runs scored. In the circle, Cooper allowed three hits and struck out 13 in five innings of work.
Cooper’s grand slam came during the Lady Hillbillies six-run second inning that saw the Lady Hillbillies score two runs on a throwing error before Cooper’s blast.
Jacklynn Barnett led of the second with a double and advanced to third on Kirsten Ellis’ single. Trista Marcum followed with a bunt single and advanced to second on a throwing error by the pitcher, scoring Barnett and Ellis to give Man a 2-0 lead.
Baylee Muncy followed with a single and Kaleigh Hicks walked to load the bases before Emma Wilcox got Kalilla Collins to strike out swinging for the first out of the second inning.
Cooper then cleared the bases with one swing, lining a 1-0 pitch over the center field fence giving Man a 6-0 lead after two complete innings.
Man added to its lead in the third when Muncy singled to plate Ellis giving the Lady Hillbillies a 7-0 lead.
Man plated two more runs in the fourth as Ashlee Tomblin’s RBI groundout scored Cooper for an 8-0 lead and Barnett’s triple scored McKinlee Cline to give Man a 9-0 lead after four.
Wilcox allowed nine runs on 11 hits with four strikeouts and one walk in four innings and suffered the loss in the circle for the Lady Bulldogs.
Alyssa Sampson had two hits including a double and Hope Gammond had one hit for Van.
Barnett had two hits including a double and a triple and one RBI. Ellis had two hits and scored twice while Muncy had two hits and one RBI and Cline finished with two hits and Marcum one hit with Tomblin driving in a run for the Lady Hillbillies.