NORTH MANCHESTER – The Manchester Lady Squires scored three runs in the first inning Monday and went on to beat Three Rivers Conference rival Tippecanoe Valley 7-4 in high school softball action.
Manchester, now 6-7 overall and 2-2 in the TRC standings, scored one run in the second inning and another in the fifth to take a 5-0 lead over the Lady Vikings, who fell to 3-9 and 2-2.
Valley scored all four of its runs in the sixth inning, cutting Manchester’s advantage to one run, but the Lady Squires responded by tacking on a pair in the bottom of the inning.
The Lady Squires pounded out 10 hits in the win and overcame five errors in the field.
Ali Sites led the winners with three hits, including a triple.
Torina Runkel, Kiera Stacy, Mattie McKee and Emma West all hit doubles for Manchester.
Mattie picked up the complete game win in the circle. She truck out 10 Valley batters and walked five.
Ally Betten led Valley with two hits, while Amy Baca, Kirsten Prater, Kayla Scott, Jordan Krotke and Kirstyn Yoder had one hit each.
Sydney Howard was charged with the pitching loss. She struck out one and walked one in six innings.
Manchester hosts Caston today, while Valley travels to Wabash Wednesday.
