MONROE — Liv Powers just may have a new pregame routine on game days.
Don’t swing a bat.
“I think it would be a good thing to do because clearly it helped me,” the Ross High School junior said. “Maybe I’ll just get only a few swings in to warm myself up.”
Powers laced a two-RBI triple in the top of the eighth, and the Rams knocked off the Southwestern Buckeye League rival Monroe Hornets 4-2 on Wednesday at Hornet Field.
“You know what’s funny? Today when we did our pregame hitting, I told her not to swing the bat,” Rams coach Christi Luckett said of Powers. “‘All you’re going to do today is bunt.
“Her first bunt was OK. Her second bunt was beautiful. Just missed getting on by a step. Then I just looked at her, ‘No, just swing.’ Because she needs to be able to see the ball, and I thought her getting down for a bunt was enough for her to see it.
“Then she just unleashed. I told her that I was super proud of her. I told her from now on she’s just going to bunt and warm up. There is no more hitting for her in pregame. She’s going to keep on doing that.”
Emilee Peters and Juilianna Combs singled in the top of the eighth, and with two outs, Powers drilled a triple to left field that brought both across the plate. Ross sophomore pitcher Taylor Bertram retired three straight batters in the bottom half, and Ross snapped Monroe’s six-game winning streak.
“At the end of the day, Taylor pitched a phenomenal game,” Luckett said. “Eight innings, that’s the most innings she’s pitched all season. So, I wasn’t sure how she was feeling or if she wanted to keep going. But she just kept doing her thing, so I just kept letting her do it.”
Bertram had eight strikeouts with one earned run on four hits for the Rams, who moved to 12-5 overall and 2-1 in the SWBL Southwestern Division.
Monroe, which had its best start since the 2019 season, slipped to 11-2 overall and 1-2 in the conference.
“I really wasn’t sure what to expect to be honest with you,” Hornets coach Tim Kellis said. “We’ve been looking at some of their scores and some of our scores, and we knew they were a really good team. I thought we would score more than two runs, but I’m really proud of our kids. Where we were, and where we’re at.
“You put freshmen and sophomores in that situation, it’s only going to make them better. It’s growing pains, but I’ll live with it — as long as we’re competitive.”
McKenna Bare walked to lead off the bottom of the first, and she came around to score on a Khloe Holmes groundout to give Monroe a 1-0 lead.
Bare scored again in the fourth on Madi Frazier’s groundout to second, which upped the advantage to 2-0.
The Ross offensive production didn’t come around until the seventh.
Jo Gorsuch doubled off Monroe junior pitcher Hannah Witte, and Combs moved her over to third on a sac bunt. Powers doubled to bring Gorsuch home to make it 2-1. Then Paige Baker doubled in Powers to tie it — eventually setting up the winner in extra innings.
“My mentality is just, ‘No thoughts,’” said Powers, who went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run. “I’ve got to do something for my team. I’ve got to do a job.
“Monroe, they’re a good team,” Powers added. “Last year, they weren’t that good of a team, so we had to come into this game knowing their record and thinking, ‘We got to be on top of our game.’
“Clearly, the bats weren’t on fire the first few innings, but we came together as a team. We just really battled it out. Monroe’s a good team and can’t wait to play them again on Friday.”
This time, it’ll be at Ross with a 5 p.m. first pitch. But before that, Monroe will finish up a suspended game against Franklin — which handed the Hornets their other loss earlier in the season — on Thursday.
Monroe on the move
Kellis said he expected his program to be competitive this season. He saw it coming before opening day.
“The biggest thing that probably happened for us was actually a scrimmage,” Kellis said. “We went over to Oak Hills, obviously a very good (Greater Miami Conference) school. We fell behind 6-0, came back, fell behind, came back and tied it in the seventh, 10-10.
“The scrimmage was played like a regular game because it was the last scrimmage. We kind of knew then that we had something special here. You know, we’re not perfect, but so far, it’s just been really enjoyable.”
Monroe consists of two seniors and three juniors. The rest (13) are freshmen and sophomores.
“These girls are very receptive,” Kellis said. “They work hard. They listen. We’ve told them that they’re never going to play a perfect game. This is from Pat Summitt. I didn’t come up with this. But in those moments that you touch perfection, we’re going to make the right plays. Right now, we’re making them.”
Leading the way
Gorsuch went 3-for-4 with a run for Ross, while Kailyn May went 2-for-4.
Bare finished 2-for-3 with two runs for Monroe, while freshman Rose Hensley was 2-for-3.
