By Joey Hudson
Senior Courtney Graff started on the mound for the Raiders softball team on Thursday and absolutely dominated the Rochester Century Panthers lineup. Century had junior Morgan Erickson in the circle who also had an amazing day pitching. Graff led off the bottom of the first with a single but after that Erickson struck out the next seven batters she faced.
The Raiders only had one base runner between the first and the sixth being Olivia Hohrman reached on an error in the fifth. Graff got the Raiders second hit of the game in the top of the sixth but the Raiders were unable to capitalize, ending the inning with Erickson striking out senior Lindsey Stanton for her eleventh strikeout of the game.
The Panthers bats through seven had only one hit from catcher Maddie Feakes, four walks, three hit by pitches, and a runner reach on an error, as Graff had struck out eleven. Through six the Panthers had left seven runners on base while scoring no runs. The Raiders got sat down one-two-three in the seventh with Erickson striking out two raising her strikeout total to thirteen.
As the game entered extras the Panthers were threatening to score with a runner on second with one out Panthers center fielder Kennedy Stewart struck out on a pitch in the dirt, and on the throw down, the runner on second for the Panthers Kianna Collins attempted to advance to third but Raiders first baseman Jaimi Triplett easily threw her out at third as third baseman Lindsey Stanton applied the tag.
In the bottom of the eighth, the Raiders were able to get another hit with center fielder Megan Snyder hitting a single but then being called out for leaving first early while attempting to steal for the third out of the inning. In the ninth the Panthers were set down in order with Graff collecting her thirteenth strikeout of the game.
In the bottom of the ninth Courtney Graff led off the inning with a double, but raiders bats were set down after that with Erickson striking out another two batters raising her total to seventeen. Courtney Graff stayed out to pitch the tenth with the game still tied at zero a piece when Century finally scored the first run of the game with an Ava Frost RBI single which scored Panthers second baseman Amanda Spors. Century loaded the bases after scoring with two outs but Graff was able to get out of the inning and send the game into the bottom of the tenth.
The bottom of the tenth started out great for the Raiders with junior catcher Emily Broden ripping a ball through the Century third baseman’s legs for a lead off single. Rita Langford came into courtesy run for Broden but was out on a fielders choice hit by Jaimi Triplett who was then pinch run for by junior Paige Christenson. Next up for the Raiders was Olivia Hohrman who struck out of four pitches, being Morgan Erickson’s eighteenth strikeout of the game. Senior left fielder Ruby Holman came up with two outs and popped up to sophomore Century second baseman Amanda Spors to end the game.
Courtney Graff pitched the entire game for the Raiders going 10 innings, allowing only two hits, walking eight, and striking out thirteen. On the other side Morgan Erickson also pitched all ten for the Panthers allowing five hits, no walks, no runs, and striking out eighteen. Graff ended up throwing 169 pitches, with Erickson throwing 121. The Raiders move to 5-3 overall on the season, and 4-3 in big nine play. Raiders softball plays again next Tuesday, may second and the next game that we will be streaming is next Friday, may fifth.
