After a grueling opening-round series with Walnut, the Union Lady Yellowjackets needed a break.
They got one against Riverside.
The Lady Jackets cruised to a second-round win as they hammered Riverside 18-1 on Tuesday and 19-0 on Wednesday to sweep the series in two games.
With the win, Union improves to 15-11 on the season. Union will now play the winner of the Lake-Eupora series.
Union 18, Riverside 1
Union had 13 hits and took advantage of six walks to take a three-inning victory over visiting Riverside on Tuesday.
Last week, Union led Walnut for six innings and lost in the seventh inning. But that wasn’t going to be the case on Tuesday.
“I told our girls before the game that we needed to make sure we took care of business at Union,” Union coach Jacob Casey said. “When you lose at home in Game 1, it puts you in a pretty big hole. I thought it was good for us to get that first victory here at home.”
Riverside took an early lead in the contest when the Lady Jackets misplayed a bunt and an error allowed the run to score.
Union wasted little time at the plate in the bottom of the first as they plated seven runs on six hits as Parker Breland drove in a pair of runs with a double to take a 7-1 lead after the first.
“Their pitcher threw strikes but we hit the ball well and squared a lot of balls up and found some gaps,” Casey said “We got that momentum early and kind of rolled with it after that. Now we just have to go up there and take care of business. A lot of the balls were hit hard. Their pitcher was great but we did a good job of staying back. We squared a lot of balls up and I was proud of that.”
In the second inning, Union scored 11 more runs as Parker Breland had a two-run single, Mackenzie Dolan had a two-run double and Ansley Rigby finished out the scoring with a three-run triple.
Burton was 3-for-3 in the game with two doubles, three runs scored and two RBIs. Breland was 2-for-2 with a double, three runs scored and four RBIs while Rigby was 2-for-2 with two triples, two runs scored and three RBIs. Dolan was 2-for-3 with a double and three RBIs while DaShayla Jackson, Abbie Jenkins, Anna Rigdon and Anna Grace Blount each scored two runs apiece.
Rigdon started in the circle and pitched all three innings, giving up one unearned run without allowing a hit and striking out five to pick up the win.
Union 19, Riverside 0
Union had seven hits, seven hit batters, six walks as the Lady Jackets completed the series sweep of Riverside on Wednesday.
Union scored five in the first, six in the second and eight in the third to take the win.
Union had just seven hits and two multiple hitters as Mackenzie Dolan was 2-for-3 with a grand slam home run in the third inning. Anna Rigdon was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs. Britli Cleveland also drove in two runs. Lilly Burton scored three runs while DaShayla Jackson drew three walks and scored twice. Macy Lott, Parker Breland, Ansley Rigby and Kayleigh Vance each scored twice. Burton and Rigby were each hit by pitches twice.
Cleveland got the start in the circle and pitched three innings, giving up two hits and striking out five.
