NORTH AUGUSTA 4, CATAWBA RIDGE 0
North Augusta senior pitcher Katelyn Cochran competes with herself every time she steps onto the softball field.
No matter the accomplishment, she always tells herself she can do a little better and go a little further, pushing herself as hard as she can for herself and her teammates.
She’s done it throughout North Augusta’s run to the Class AAAA state championship series, but she may have a little more difficulty topping what she did Tuesday night.
The Class AAAA Player of the Year turned in perhaps the finest performance in program history, tossing a one-hit shutout with 16 strikeouts while hitting two home runs and driving in all four runs in a 4-0 win over Catawba Ridge that has the Jackets a win away from their first state championship.
“What more can you say?,” asked North Augusta head coach Craig Gilstrap. “She’s phenomenal.”
That pretty much covers it.
She gave herself all of the run support she needed with a two-run homer in the bottom of the second inning after Kadence Adams reached on an infield single. She added a solo shot in the bottom of the fourth, and even when she didn’t get a hit she drove in a run - her RBI groundout in the sixth made it 4-0.
“All the girls always say that I’m so carefree at the plate, and that’s why I get the base hits,” said Cochran, who came into the game with two home runs in 103 plate appearances this season. “But I just go up there relaxed and do my thing. When I hit it, I literally had chills when I was running around the bases, because it’s not often that I hit home runs. It was pretty cool.”
Cochran accounted for two of North Augusta’s (32-2) six hits against Catawba Ridge (26-5) starter Chloe Burger, who struck out six batters and for the most part stayed out of trouble against the Jackets’ loaded lineup.
“The first time through we had three strikeouts, and after that we did have a lot better at-bats,” Gilstrap said. “Even the balls that we were missing, we were fouling a lot straight back. We’ve just got to get one of those hits when people are on base. We need to get one of those two-out hits. We haven’t had one in about three or four games, and I think that would kind of uncork everything and we could get more.”
The problem for the Copperheads, though, was that no one was able to put the ball in play other than All-State shortstop Janelle Ilacqua, who had their only hit. She singled with two outs in the bottom of the third but then was called out for leaving the base early during fellow All-State pick Audrey Wilson’s ensuing at-bat.