By Andrew Cato, ShowMe Times Sports Editor

BERNIE - The Lady Bearcats had an explosive day at the plate on Wednesday afternoon when they hit the road to take on the Bernie Mules.

It was a welcome change for Dexter, as the Lady Bearcats struggled at the plate in their first two games of the season (a 13-4 loss against Clearwater, followed by a 17-3, run-rule loss to Kennett), but big offensive production in the third, fourth, and fifth innings propelled the Lady 'Cats to a 15-5 win.

Ashley Brown and Kendra Stevenson both plated runs for the Lady 'Cats in the first inning; after already scoring one run in the third, Riley Rickman blasted a two RBI double to increase Dexter's lead to 5-2.

The scoring rally continued in the fourth inning, with the Lady 'Cats plating three runs, but the Mules responded with three runs of their own to bring the score to 8-5 heading into the fifth inning. Becky Anderson, who pitched in the contest, led off with a double and was later driven in by Taylor Owens to start the rally. A two RBI single from Emily Triplett plated the Lady 'Cats seventh run of the inning, and sealed the final score at 15-5 in Dexter's favor.

The Lady Mules struggled in the field throughout, committing a whopping 15 errors in the contest. Coach Brad Botsch noted this as a big area the team needs to improve on.

"At this point, we really just need to get better at catching and throwing the ball. We are trying to learn the fundamentals of the game and hopefully we will improve," Botsch said. "It's frustrating right now, but we aren't going to stop trying or pushing them to make improvements. They must learn how to compete."

The Lady Bearcats, now 1-2 on the season, will be in action again on Saturday in the first annual 'Swing Pink' tournament. The tournament is in the vein of the volleyball team's 'Dig Pink' contest last season, and the middle school squad's 'Hits for Hope' game earlier in the year; all proceeds raised at the tournament will go to the benefit of the Ben Kruse 18 FORE Life foundation.

All teams participating in the all-day tournament will be guaranteed three games, with contests at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 4 p.m.

Photo Above:
Becky Anderson fires a pitch during Monday's loss to the Clearwater Lady Tigers. Anderson's record stands at 1-1 after Wednesday's big win at Bernie, where she struck out two batters (Submitted photo by Kay Stevenson).