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Belpre bombs: Golden Eagles homer twice in 6-2 win vs. Tigers

By Aaron Lee 4 min read

BELPRE - The only thing better than one home run is two, and that is just what Belpre softball managed in a 6-2 win against Wirt County Tuesday at Civitan Park.

Both Makayla Carmichael and Lucy Ruble hit what have been termed on the team's Facebook as, "Belpre Bombs."

In the top of the first, Belpre's Rylee Wolfe got things started with a single. She was quickly brought home by a two-run home run by Makayla Carmichael to give the Golden Eagles a quick 2-0 lead.

Carmichael was not expecting to start the game that way, but it was a welcome surprise, "I got in the box, and I didn't think I was going to hit one, but it just happened."

Once she made contact, there was not a doubt in her mind that the ball was leaving the park, "As soon as I hit it I knew it was going."

In the bottom of the frame, Wirt County responded with two runs of its own. After an Ali Neff walk, a single by Kylee Ross advanced her to third. A Kaitlyn Duskey single then brought Neff home. Ross concluded her trip around the bases on a sacrifice by Kaylee Copeland that tied the game at 2-2.

Both teams were held scoreless for the next two innings. With one out in the bottom of the third, Belpre switched from pitcher Avery Varner to Carmichael.

The Golden Eagles regained the lead on an Allie Jaraucaro single that brought home Ruble. They extended the lead on a single by Khloe Cooper that sent Ruble to home plate. Going into the bottom of the fourth, Belpre led 4-2.

On the mound, Carmichael recorded three straight strikeouts to retire the Tigers in order in the bottom of the fourth.

In the top of the fifth, Ruble added a home run of her own to extend the Golden Eagles' lead to 5-2.

For Ruble, this is not her first time hitting a dinger off of the Tigers, "I hit one off her the last time we played her. I was struggling a little bit in the beginning of the game with a pop fly, but I think I did pretty good."

Continuing the defensive performance, Belpre forced Wirt County to go three up three down in the bottom of the frame.

Belpre's final run came by way of a sacrifice by Wolfe that brought home Cooper in the top of the sixth. The Tigers were able to get multiple baserunners in the last two innings, but nothing came of them. The Golden Eagles won by a final of 6-2.

Carmichael finished the game with 4.2 innings pitched, one walk and seven strikeouts. She gave her thoughts after the win, "I thought we did pretty well. AJ Varner coming in and helping me out pitching was definitely a big confidence booster for everybody, including herself. I think everybody played good defense, and then we eventually got our bats started thanks to Lucy Ruble."

Ruble's focus is now on the team's remaining schedule, especially their Tri-Valley Conference opponents, "I think we have a pretty hard schedule coming up with a lot of TVC games. A lot of people expect us to win the TVC, so I think that's a big goal coming up. Hopefully we win those, because they're gonna be pretty tough."

Golden Eagles head coach Brian Hutchinson echoed the sentiment, "We try to put a lot of emphasis on our conference opponents."

That focus may have distracted Belpre in the beginning of the game, but they quickly got it together. "Just a slow start. Awkward start time with it moving back an hour, but after a couple of innings we got going. The girls know they have a big game tomorrow (against Eastern), so maybe we didn't start off as sharp as we would like to."

Belpre plays host to Eastern today and heads to Federal Hocking on Friday. Wirt County's next game is at home against Williamstown on Thursday. All games are set to start at 5 p.m.

Contact Aaron Lee at alee@newsandsentinel.com

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