Rock Bridge Defeats Sullivan

Sullivan suffered their worst defeat of the season Tuesday, falling 14-3 at Rock Bridge.

After jumping on the Bruins for a run in the first, the Lady Eagles (20-6) surrendered five in the bottom half of the inning. 

Rock Bridge (23-6, No. 8 in Class 4) added five more in the fourth and four in the fifth, which put Sullivan on the wrong side of the 10-run mercy rule.

Sullivan had five hits as they rolled out a different lineup. 

Kayla Ulrich moved up to leadoff, singled and scored twice. 

Addison Purvis returned after a six-game absence. She singled in her only plate appearance.

Hannah Cox singled, had an RBI and walked. Hanna Johanning and Payton Counts each singled.

Johanning took the ball and went four innings. She walked five, struck out four and allowed eight earned runs. Cox relieved her and allowed four runs.

Sullivan’s run in the first came when Ulrich singled and advanced to third on a base hit by Purvis.

A double steal attempt was halfway successful in execution as Ulrich scored, but Riley Branson — running for Purvis — was caught at second.

The lead evaporated just two batters into Rock Bridge’s turn at the plate.

Maddie Snider and Madison White, who each had three hits, traded doubles to tie the game at 1-1. Two batters later, Ella Schouten grounded an RBI single to left and scored White. 

Mackenzie White’s two-run double and Jillian Larkin’s RBI single with two outs extended the Bruins lead to 5-1.

Rock Bridge cracked the door open for Sullivan in the fourth when Cox reached on an error by Kayla Mooney. Johanning followed with a double to put runners in scoring position. Mooney committed another error, allowing a run to score, but Johanning was out at third on the play. Sullivan trailed 5-2.

The Bruins added five more runs in the bottom half of the fourth. 

Sullivan pushed a run across in the fifth with an RBI single by Cox, but Rock Bridge ran away for good when White hit a grand slam to end the game.