By Tom Price Jr.
After losing shortstop Jody Williamson to injury during the Buchanan Tournament March 13, the Exeter Monarchs softball team has scrambled to fill the void.
Following an offensive struggle with Corcoran on Tuesday in which they ended up on top 11-6, the Monarchs got to relax against an inferior Orosi club on Friday.
Exeter got five strong innings from Amy Noel who surrendered just two hits and had six strikeouts in a 16-0 rout.
"It was a good opportunity to get some practice at new positions," Noel said. "We are getting better each game and coming back strong."
The Monarchs are a perfect 3-0 in East Sequoia League play largely in part to their hitting which has amassed 27 runs in the last two games.
Kylie Souza led the Monarchs over Orosi going 3-for-4 with a double and Amanda Bybee had her second consecutive multi-hit game with a 2-for-3 performance.
In all Exeter had 19 hits and every starter had at least one hit.
"Our goal is to keep heading on the right track," Exeter coach Karen Zeibak said. "I liked everything I saw today, they did very well."
Melissa Raposa wasted little time in getting the Monarchs on the board driving in Souza and Morris with a single in the first inning.
Exeter really broke it open in the second inning scoring seven runs. The rally was highlighted by a Courtney Grim triple that scored Bybee from second base.
In the third inning the Monarchs continued the onslaught with six more runs with Souza driving in two with a double.
Equally as impressive as the offense was the defense which picked off both Orosi runners which reached base.
"With Jody out we needed a game like this," said Bybee who made the transition from third base to shortstop. "I did pretty decent, I only had three balls hit to me but it felt good."
Against Corcoran on March 16, Exeter held off a seventh inning rally fueled by five Monarch errors to win 11-6. Corcoran scored five times on five hits and five errors.
Bybee went 4-for-4 with a triple and Alisa Castro went 2-for-4 with a double and Morris hit a homerun.
"After that inning the girls realized they need to stay focused until the very last out of the game is made," Zeibak said.
As of press time the Exeter Monarchs ESL game against Lindsay had yet to be played. Results can be found in the April 74 issue of The Exeter Sun.
Exeter will travel to Woodlake on Friday for another ESL match.
