Lady Bearcats cruise past Bernie

Jake Kreulen photo - Amanda Dooley of the Dexter Lady Bearcats brings a pitch to the plate during Friday's 12-2 road win over the Bernie Lady Mules. Dexter moved to 2-3 on the year with the victory. [Click to enlarge]

BERNIE -- The Dexter Lady Bearcats had two big innings Friday afternoon as they cruised to a 12-2 victory over the Bernie Lady Mules in prep softball action.

The Lady 'Cats scored four in the second and six in the fourth as they improved to 2-3 on the year. Bernie falls to 2-2.

"We had a combination of some really good pitching from Amanda Dooley and we got good hitting," said Dexter coach Don Goodwin. "And we played excellent defense."

Dooley, who struck out six Lady Mules and allowed just four hits on the day, and Taylor Nelson both slammed homeruns for Dexter, while Paige Garner slapped a pair of doubles. Brittney Lewis added another two-bagger in the win.

Mindy Jones scored three times, while Dooley, Nelson, Jessica Fowler and Melissa Williams all scored three times for the Lady 'Cats.

Defensively, the Lady 'Cats stepped up each time Bernie seemed to stage a rally.

"Jesse Fowler made a super play in the third inning at third base," Goodwin said. "They had the bases loaded and she went deep in the hole to get the ball and then fired it over to get the out.

"Then Mindy Jones made a fantastic catch in the last inning down the leftfield line and threw to first for the double play."

Miranda McGowan had a solid day at the plate for Bernie, going 3-for-3 with two doubles and one run scored.

"We just got beat by a better team today," Bernie coach Jeff Rodgers said. "Dexter hit the ball hard with two homeruns, and the Dooley girl pitched a great game. She's the best pitcher we've faced this year and several of our players were way behind her."

Rodgers added that with ace Brittney Flannery coming off back-to-back complete games, fatigue was evident.

"What it comes down to is we just walk too many people, period," said Rodgers.

"Brittney Flannery just pitched two complete games in a row and was very tired. We did some good things today too.

"Miranda McGowan went 3-3 off a good pitcher, and Lara Ford came in and showed a lot of improvement on the mound.

"Once we start throwing strikes we should be able to compete with most teams."

Both teams play Monday as the Lady Bearcats host Campbell and Caruthersville travels to Bernie.

DEXTER -- (ab-r-h) Dooley p 4-2-1, M. Jones ss 3-3-2, Nelson 1b 3-2-1, Fowler 3b 2-2-1, Garner lf 3-0-2, Sisk cf 4-0-0, Lewis 2b 3-1-2, Taylor dh 2-0-0, Corlew c 0-0-0, R. Jones dh 2-0-0, Williams rf 1-2-0. Totals:

BERNIE -- Schwent 3-0-0, Ford 2-0-0, Flannery 3-1-1, Boatner 3-0-0, McGowan 3-1-3, Spitzer 3-0-0, Stone 3-0-0, Smothers 2-0-1, Trout 1-0-0. Totals:

2B - Dexter 3 (Garner 2, Lewis 1); Bernie 2 (McGowan 2). HR -- Dexter 2 (Dooley 1, Nelson 1)Lady