SLAYTON — It was a crisp, overcast day for the matchup between Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian and Murray County Central, but the bats were hot for Edgerton/SWC early on, and it resulted in a 13-2 victory.

In the top of the first inning, the first six batters all scored as they batted around the order. It started with a Maddie Fiekema single, followed by three more singles by Ava Veldkamp, Paris VanDyke and Benolyn Smit. After singles by Elli Fleischman, Kathlyn Prins and Myah VaderMerten, Mateya Gilbertson drove in two more runs with a single to make it 6-0 after one inning.

The second inning started much like the first, with the first three batters scoring. Gilbertson then drove in Kathryn Prins with a double off the left-field fence. Mary Lou McNab came in the game in relief in the second inning for MCC, and she was able to close out the inning.

Paris VanDyke was in the circle for Edgerton/SWC and was able to retire the side in order for the first 3 innings.

Her change-up pitch was very effective in keeping the MCC of balance. However, with McNab quieting the bats, MCC was given some hope in the forth inning.

Abby Loosbrook led off the fourth inning with line-drive home run over the left field fence, followed by a double by McNab, but VanDyke regained her composure and got out of the inning with no further damage.

In the fifth inning, Emmi Peltolu got a two-out single and, after a stolen base, was able to score on a throwing error to make the score 10-2.

Edgerton/SWC was able to counter with 3 runs in the top of the sixth inning after McNab had kept them scoreless for 3 innings. It started with a walk to Paris VanDyke, and after singles by Elli Fleischman and Kathryn Prins, Mateya Gilbertson finished off her perfect day at the plate with her second double, scoring Prins.

In bottom of the sixth inning, VanDyke was able to retire the side in order for the win. She also had 2 hits and scored 3 runs, as did Kathryn Prins. Veldkamp, Smit and Fleischman all scored 2 runs for Edgerton/SWC to round out the victory.

Paris VanDyke, who is going to play softball for SMSU next year, had this to say about her day. “My first changeup in warmups hit the top of the backstop and I had to pretend that there was a table in front of me to get my focus back. I really trust my fielders, and the pitching isn’t always there, so the defense has been great behind me. Our first at bats went really well, and then their relief pitcher came in and threw some steam, so we had to adjust. The home run was hit really well, and it just shows you that you can’t take an inning off.”

Edgerton/SWC head coach Andrew Fleischman said, “It starts with pitching, and Paris does a great job for us. We have been very good in the field, and I felt that today, the quality of our at bats was great. We kept pressure on them, and even our outs were hard-hit, and they made some good plays on a lot of hard-hit balls. Sometime, you can have a strikeout, but still have a quality at-bat. I thought we did a good job of being selective in the strike zone, and that’s a big deal for us. We are an aggressive hitting team, and sometimes we are aggressive to a fault. The bottom of our lineup is continuing to improve, even though we are a pretty young team.

MCC Head Coach Alyssa Wienk was disappointed in the slow start by her team. ” We are going to move past this real fast. We didn’t show up today. They are a good team, but we didn’t start hitting until the forth inning, and that is too late. Defense is usually what saves us, but it was not there today.”

Murray County Central (3-2) will try to bounce back when it plays again in Okabena against Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.

Edgerton/SWC is now 5-0 on the season.