By Seth Horton
On Wednesday afternoon, the Lady Bulldogs put their young talent on display in a double-header sweep over the 1-14 Miles College Lady Golden Bears largely thanks to the play of Ashley Scott, freshman, and Hannah Ridolfi, freshman.
Ridolfi went one for two hitting with an RBI and one run scored. She also played extremely well on the defensive end with seven infield assists and allowing only three hits throughout the second game of the evening. Scott went two for four with two RBIs and one run scored. She also played well on the defensive side with two putouts and one infield assist. Neither player committed an error.
“We are starting, most of the time, six freshman and our starting pitchers are freshman,” Union coach Heather Hall said. “The experience that they’re getting this year is going to push us forward.”
A look at the roster shows exactly how young this team is: 12 of 22 players are freshman and only three players are seniors. Even though this team is young, it has some real talent with high aspirations.
“Even though we may be young several girls have stepped up to make that key play or that key hit and our goal is just to continue to build on that,” Ridolfi said. “My goal is for us to win a conference championship every year, and we have the talent to do so.”
Ridolfi is one of four freshman batting over .300 on the season. Morris is a standout hitting .433 on 60 at bats and second on the team in RBIs with 18. The team as a whole is batting an average of .323.
Among the number of other key contributors were Abby Swilley with a solo homer and nine putouts, Emily Bennet who went for a combined three for seven and four runs in two games, and Gabby Morris allowed just two hits in the first game.
The first game ended with a 7-2 victory for Union and the second game was a show of force with a 9-1 win for the Lady Bulldogs.
The Lady Bulldogs play in three home games against Gulf South Conference rivals Mississippi College this weekend on March 11 and 12.
