FLOYDS KNOBS — If you erased the home second inning from the scorebook, the Providence-Floyd Central softball game at Highlander Field on Friday would have been a pretty good one.

But the Class 4A No. 9 Highlanders (17-2) were able to turn two Providence (9-10) miscues into five runs, cruising to a 7-0 victory over the Pioneers.

“They respect us. We respect them, and we know they’ve got a really nice team,” Floyd Central coach Joe Witten said. “They’ve beaten some good teams this year. We got a couple more breaks tonight with some balls that were hit, and found some gaps where maybe theirs didn’t. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. Take out that one inning, and it’s a 2-0 game.”

“Obviously, they’re good. They’re ranked highly in the state,” Providence coach Sean Payne said. “I think it shows a lot with our team that we really did compete well, minus the two errors in the second inning that led to five runs.”

Things got out of hand early in the home second for the Pioneers. Taylor McClure got to first base on a fielder’s choice, moved up to second on a wild pitch by Providence’s Sierra Collett and stole third. Briana Mayfield knocked McClure home on a single to left, and moved up to third base when Providence third baseman Kelsey Bedan couldn’t handle a hard ground ball by Kate Kaiser, who was safe at first.

After Kaiser stole second, Morgan Harper bounced into a fielder’s choice, but all hands were safe to load the bases. But as Collett retrieved the ball and walked back to the circle, Mayfield streaked home and catcher Adrienne Voelker couldn’t handle Collett’s throw, making it 2-0, Floyd Central.

The Highlanders weren’t done. After Kallie Krammes was hit by a pitch to juice the bases once more, Taylor Batliner hit a hard single to left to plate Kaiser and Harper.

“(My teammates) started hitting it, so I was like, ‘Well, it’s my turn now. I’ve just got to do my job ... keep it going,’” Batliner said.

An out later, Caroline Cato knocked a ball down the right-field line for a double that put Krammes across. Katelin Dreher — the 10th batter of the inning — finally lined out to the shortstop to end the inning.

“Our girls, they try their best to get the most out of every at-bat after they’ve hit the ball,” Witten said. “So they’re trying to beat out singles, make good turns, and we’re not a very quick team, so we have to do the small things right on the bases. If we stay aggressive, good things will happen.”

Despite just two Providence strikeouts, the Pioneers managed to get just four hits in the contest, two of which came off of Cato, Floyd’s starting pitcher.

“Our defense has always been good, and all this week we worked hard and we took a lot of ground balls,” Cato said. “If our defense plays like that (the rest of the season), I think we’ll beat a lot of teams.”

The Pioneers threatened in the first inning when Cato walked two batters. But a strike from Dreher in right field to McClure at the plate gunned down Jordyn Stengel on what would have been an RBI sacrifice fly by Lillian Hughes.

Cato went four innings, and surrendered just one more walk before being replaced in the circle by Alex Engleman.

“We were putting the ball in play. Sometimes the ball falls, sometimes it doesn’t,” Payne said. “We could have gotten a little bit more out in front and gotten into our power zone, but you can’t really tell the ball where to go at times.”

Batliner had a great day at the plate, going 2-for-2 with two RBIs and a run scored. She reached base twice on balls.

“I just saw the ball really well,” Batliner said. “I saw it coming and I turned on inside pitches. It was good. I just hit it.”

Despite the loss, Payne was pleased with his team’s performance.

“We’re really proud of the way we competed, and I wish we could have got this one,” Payne said. “I feel like we could compete with these guys, but we only get one shot at them each year and this was it.”

 

PROVIDENCE    000 000 0—0 4 2

FLOYD CEN.    051 001 x—7 9 1

    W — Cato (7-2). L — Collett (3-4). 2B — Cato (F), Kaiser (F), Habermel (P).

    Records — Providence 9-10, Floyd Central 17-2.