Photo | Paul Adkins

Logan’s Taylor Norman rounds third and scores in the win over the Indians.

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CHAPMANVILLE — The Logan High School softball team let their bats do the talking on Thursday night at Chapmanville Regional High School’s Lady Tigers Invitational as the Lady Cats crushed Sissonville 10-0.

Logan improved to 7-2 on the season and pounded out 12 hits in the win.

The game was stopped after six innings due to the 8-run mercy rule.

Logan won it in the bottom of the sixth inning as first baseman Lara Sedlock cleared the bases with a three-run double to the center field fence. Sedlock finished the game 3-for-4 at the plate with two doubles and five RBI.

Taylor Norman also had a big night at the plate as she was 3-for-3 with two doubles and one RBI. She scored four runs in the rout.

Leadoff batter and shortstop Rachelle Toppings also had a multi-hit game for the Lady Cats as she was 2-for-4 with a double and one RBI.

In the meantime, Logan senior all-state pitcher Morgan Aguirre was mowing down Sissonville batters. Aguirre finished with a complete game two-hit shutout as she fanned 12 batters and walked two in a six-inning worksheet.

Sissonville dropped to 5-5 on the season with the loss. Dee Dee Loftis was the starting and losing pitcher for the Indians. She was chased from the mound in the second inning as she yielded four runs and four hits with two walks and one strikeouts in 1.2 innings of work. Bekah Baldwin then finished out the game for Sissonville, striking out two and walking one in 3-plus innings.

Logan coach Randy Robinette seemed pretty pleased with his team’s performance.

“It was a good win against good pitching,” Robinette said. “We haven’t seen a lot of good pitching like they have. We pounded the ball pretty good. We did a good job and Morgan did a good job pitching. We played really well. We hit some rocket shots tonight and hopefully this is a good sign of better things to come. This is our third game since we didn’t show up to play against Sherman. We’re glad for the improvement and we just hope to build on these games.”

In the other dugout was Sissonville assistant coach Kim Darby, a former Logan all-state shortstop from 1999-2003, who helped lead the Lady Cats to back-to-back Class AAA state championships in 2001 and 2002 under Coach Robinette. First-year Logan assistant coach Lindsay Noe was the Lady Cats’ catcher and Darby’s teammate on the two state title squads.

“Me and Kim and Lindsay talked about old times and with the problems that face the kids in these days and times as opposed to 10 years ago,” Robinette said. “We had a nice visit. It’s always nice to see players come back and give something back to the game. That makes me happy, too.”

Logan jumped ahead in the bottom of the first as senior catcher Katie Chryssofos ripped an RBI double to the left field fence to make it 1-0. Aguirre then followed with an opposite field RBI single down the right field line to increase the lead to 2-0.

In the second inning, Logan went on a two-out rally to plate three runs to make it 5-0. Toppings got it started with an RBI double to right center. Norman then drilled a double in the left field corner which one-hopped the fence to score another to make it 4-0. Sedlock’s double to the left field wall then upped the margin to 5-0.

The Lady Cats made it 6-0 in the third as Aguirre singled and later scored on Emily Vinson’s bunt single and Sissonville throwing error.

It was 7-0 in the in the fourth as Norman doubled and scored on Sedlock’s smashing single up the middle.

Logan then ended the game in the sixth with the bases loaded double by Sedlock.

Taylor Legg had a two-out single in the top of the fourth to break up Aguirre’s no-hit bid. Loftis then doubled in the top of the sixth for the Indians’ only other hit of the ballgame.

Logan is scheduled to return to Chapmanville on Friday for two Lady Tigers Invitational games. At 4 p.m., Logan is set to take on Point Pleasant. Then at 7:30 p.m. LHS is scheduled to take on defending Class AA state champion Ritchie County. Both games are to be played at Chapmanville Middle School’s Field 2 diamond.

The Man High School girls’ softball team also played on Thursday at the Lady Tigers Invitational but lost 5-1 to Class AA Herbert Hoover and 2-1 in eight innings to the Poca Dots.

The Lady Billies (3-4) managed just three hits in the Hoover game — singles by Summer Sword, Cari Blair and Madison Keffer.

Herbert Hoover (8-3) was led by pitcher Allison Rager who fired a complete game win, allowing just one run and three hits with two strikeouts and no walks. At the plate she was a perfect 3-for-3.

Mikayla Craze and Chelsea Stover added two hits for the Huskies. Mackenzie Evans had a hit and an RBI.

Man scored its only run in the top of the sixth with Blair’s RBI ground out.

“We played a good team,” Lady Billies’ coach Randy Epperly said. “We played about as good as we could play but we were shorthanded tonight. Two of our players are in Italy on a school trip. We only had 11 players and we were limited on what we could do. We have a lot of inexperience on the team with only four players with varsity experience. We played pretty well defensively but on offense we’re just not that aggressive. It’s hard sometimes to get young girls to be aggressive at the plate.”

Against Poca, Tomblin had two hits, while Sword, Casey Albright, Blair and Makayla Gibson all had one hit. Keffer pitched for the Lady Billies, striking out six batters.

The Lady Billies return to Chapmanville on Saturday to play Point Pleasant at 2:3o p.m. at the CMS Field 2 diamond.