Lowell’s Karney keeps Govs’ ‘O’ off balance

Updated: May 23, 2011 10:14PM

HIGHLAND — Lowell pitcher Cassie Karney felt nervous before her team’s Class 4A Highland Sectional opener against Morton.

That was a sign the Governors were probably in a lot of trouble.

“I was really nervous before the game started, but I usually do better when I’m nervous — and I don’t know why,” Karney said.

The Red Devils’ senior had her change-up working quite well, inducing the Governors (12-5) into many infield pop-ups and ground-outs while helping Lowell (9-20) to an 8-1 victory Monday.

Karney’s ultra slow change-up baffled Morton’s hitters throughout the game.

“Cassie’s change-up was killing it,” Lowell coach Ginger Britton said. “Leah (relief pitcher Fenner) was hot tonight, too. She had a lot working there when she came in. I thought they both did an excellent job.”

Karney’s change-up, though, really seemed to fool and frustrate Morton’s hitters.

“It’s my go-to pitch,” Karney said. “I’ve been working on it since I was nine. Teams are usually really thrown off by it, or they end up creaming it.”

The Governors weren’t patient enough to sit back on it, which helped Karney even more.

“I knew coming into the game they were slow on the change-up, so that helped,” Karney said. “We jam a lot of teams inside. They pull it left, or it’s a little ground-out, usually. When they did hit the ball hard, my infield was killing it for me,” she said. “I thought they did an awesome job.”

Morton had runners at first and third and only one out against Karney in the bottom of the second inning, but she fanned Trisha Miles and got Lindsay Welch on a pop-up to end the threat.”

The Governors didn’t help themselves much, committing six errors, which led to five unearned runs for the Red Devils.

“There were a couple of bad mistakes and they took advantage like they should have,” Morton coach Matt Barno said.

Morton managed only four hits — three off Karney in the first five innings — and one off relief pitcher Leah Fenner, who pitched well the last two innings.

“They couldn’t read it and judge it good enough,” Barno said. “They wanted to crunch it, instead of just trying to hit it for a single.”

The Red Devils had 12 hits — 11 off Morton starting pitcher Megan Rossi — and made a lot happen on the bases.

“I think we were aggressive on the base paths and that makes the other team make mistakes,”; Britton said. “They weren’t just one-base errors, but two or three-bases.”

Morgan O’Hanlon had a pair of hits and drove in three runs for the Red Devils, while Cassie Kroll had three hits and an RBI.

 

 

 

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