Gallery by Heather Belcher
New Richmond – For the second consecutive day Wyoming East freshman Paytin Brehm pitched like an ace.
Unfortunately for her so did her counterpart Morgan Cooper.
The two-time first-team all-stater silenced East’s bats Tuesday night, holding the Lady Warriors to just one hit while out-dueling Brehm on senior night in a 1-0 win for the Man Hillbillies in New Richmond.
Cooper’s lone blemish was a double she allowed to open the fourth inning but aside from that she proved nearly impossible to solve, fanning eight batters the first time through the lineup, finishing with 13 strikeouts on the evening.
“She pitched her normal game,” Man head coach Randy Epperly said. “I told them that’s what I’m impressed with. Our girl in left field made a couple nice plays and the shortstop made a nice play. We kind of expect that out of Morgan. It’s not always fair but day after day with her this is just a normal thing.”
Cooper’s heroics weren’t limited to just the circle. She scored the game’s only run relying on solid fundamentals to do so.
A bunt single from the senior hurler allowed her to reach to leadoff the fourth inning and she advanced to second on another bunt. A groundout advanced her to third with two outs before Peyton Lusk hit a blooper just behind the second baseman to score the lone run of the game.
East nearly answered back in the bottom of the frame when Emma Simpson led off with a double but a hard flyout, a pop out on a bunt and a strikeout left Simpson stranded on third base and Cooper retried the next nine in order.
Man had an opportunity to add an insurance run in the sixth when Cooper swatted a one-out double off the wall but Brehm worked out off the jam. Still, the support never came for the lanky lefty who struck out 11 batters and yielded just three hits.
“That pitcher is tough,” East head coach Doc Warner said. “(Paytin) pitched a good game. She could’ve easily gave up but she kept pitching. She matched that girl strike for strike for three or four innings. We need a couple of our seniors to put the ball in play. We’ve been hitting good but didn’t hit the ball today. That’s the first game where we didn’t really hit anything hard. But Paytin pitched good and we didn’t make too many mistakes on bunts so that’s a plus.”
