Dave Truex has coached countless innings over the years on the softball and baseball diamonds for the Circleville Tigers.
But the long-time coach saw something on Monday he had never seen before.
The first four Circleville batters recorded a cycle in order to highlight a 10-run first inning in an eventual 25-2 Mid-State League Buckeye Division win over visiting Fairfield Union.
Circleville (5-1, 1-0) actually entered the bottom of the first trailing 1-0, but quickly changed that fact.
Chandler Hayes reached on a single to center and scored on a double to left off the bat of Claire Davis to tie the game at 1-1. Cara Cooper then chased Davis home on a triple to right field and Ella Michael followed with a two-run homer to center.
The hits kept coming for the Tigers, as Gabby McConnell legged out an infield single and eventually scored on a single to right off the bat of Katie Folkes. Gracie Riddick singled to left to score Folkes and Allie Jones followed with a double to left that chased home Riddick to put the Tigers ahead 7-1.
Fairfield Union (0-2, 0-1) didn’t record an out until the 10th batter of the inning, ending a streak of nine Tigers reaching base via eight hits and a walk.
Jones scored on a ground out by Davis for the second out of the inning. Cooper followed with a single to center to knock in Hayes, who reached earlier via a fielder’s choice and back-to-back singles from Michael and McConnell eventually plated Cooper for the 10th and final run of the bottom of the first.
“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Truex said. “First, to start a game offensively for us with a single, double, triple and home run to get a team cycle and then to bat around without having anyone get out.
“It was some kind of first inning. The girls came in really focused, they squared up a lot of softballs and really hit the ball hard.”
The Tigers scored 13 more runs in the third, two more in the fourth and finished the run-rule win with 25 hits.
“There was no letdown from our girls, because they remembered the loss to Chillicothe last week where we gave up a 10-0 lead,” Truex said. “They kept their foot on the gas and kept playing hard. They were going to finish the game their way.”
Cooper went a perfect 5-for-5 with three RBI and five runs scored and Michael was 4-for-5 with two RBI and three runs scored to lead the Tigers. Folkes went 3-for-4 with three RBI and three runs scored, Riddick contributed a 3-for-5 night with three RBI and two runs scored, Davis accounted for two hits, four RBI and three runs score and Hayes had two hits, a pair of RBI and scored three times.
McConnell pitched a complete game, allowing five hits, a pair of runs (one earned), walked two batters and struck out 11.
“Gabby controlled things for most of the game, which you can see by her recording 11 of the 15 outs by strikeouts,” Truex said.
The Tigers continue league play on Wednesday when they travel to Logan Elm.
