Indians roll in opener

FORT RECOVERY - The Indians came out looking sharp in their season opener.

At the plate they ripped nine hits and drew seven walks, getting production throughout the order. In the field they played error-free defense behind pitcher Andi Sutter, who sat down 10 batters on her own by way of strikeouts.

All of it together led to Fort Recovery kicking off its 2010 season with a 10-0, six-inning shutout of the Jackson Center Tigers.

"Everybody did a great job," said FRHS coach Marie Osterholt. "It was a great team effort. Andi did a great job pitching. The defense was fabulous, and the bats came alive. ... That was great to see."

Jackson Center (0-1) opened each of the first two innings with singles, but couldn't do anything with them.

In the first inning Sutter got a strikeout and then induced a fly ball, which shortstop Olivia Thien grabbed and then tossed to first for a double play. In the second, Sutter recorded the first out on a ground ball and then struck out Kaitlin Bayhan and Ashley Coe to cap the inning.

Sutter didn't allow a hit the rest of the way, allowing her only other base runners on a hit batsman and a fielder's choice in the fifth inning. She struck out two batters each in the second, third, fifth and sixth innings, finishing with 10 in the shutout.

"That's fantastic," said Osterholt. "All her hard work is paying off. She throws it hard and kept them off balance.

"They were way behind her. She pitched a lot of different inside-outside stuff and kept them off."

With Sutter keeping the Jackson Center in check, the Indians got going in the third inning when an infield hit by Stacy Gehle followed by a Josie Guggenbiller double got them on the board. They added three runs in the fourth inning, four in the fifth and two in the sixth to end the game an inning early.

Fort Recovery (1-0) chased Tigers' starter Clarissa Teague from the game after putting eight straight batters on base in the fourth inning. Taylor Guggenbiller had an RBI single in the game, Sutter added a double and Marissa Brunswick smacked an RBI double to right-center field.

Then the Tribe took advantage of a lack of control from reliever Kirsten Gasson, drawing five walks as they scored six runs on just one hit in the final two innings.

"We've been working all preseason on our hitting and trying to teach them to hit with power," said Osterholt. "I thought they did a great job. I'm glad that we can get hits all the way through.

"They were patient up there and not swinging wildly. They made great contact."

Gehle, the No. 8 hitter in the Indians' order, finished 2-for-2 with a pair of infield hits, a walk and three runs. Kendra Brunswick singled, scored twice and drove in a run, Carly Staugler singled in each of her first two at bats and freshman Maleia Fullenkamp had a stolen base and scored a pair of runs as a courtesy runner for Sutter.[[In-content Ad]]