NAPOLEON -- First-year Napoleon head coach Ken Boland was clear with his Lady Wildcats heading into their season opener against the visiting Defiance Lady Bulldogs on Tuesday.
"I'm not giving you the bunt sign today," he said of the hitting gameplan. "We haven't been outside much, we haven't got to swing against live pitching. Tonight we're going to swing. We're going to get the bats out and swing them."
And swing they did.
Following a triple off the bat of freshman leadoff slugger Taylor Rieger to open the bottom of the first frame, the Napoleon bats were as wicked as the wind, rattling off 12 hits in a 10-4 victory over the Lady Bulldogs.
"It never hurts to start with a confidence builder like that, to start off and score some runs right out of the gate," said Boland. "They did some damage early on, and that just helped build the confidence going forward."
After opening the season on Monday with a 5-1 win over Liberty Center, Defiance slipped to an even 1-1 on the young season on a day when playing conditions were less than cooperative, particularly with shots to the outfield.
"It's spring in northwest Ohio, so we're not inventing anything here," noted Defiance mentor Hans Zipfel. "It's not Florida or California here … it's gonna be a tough first couple weeks. The wind was blowing out, so that helped. But those balls were hit pretty hard. You can't take anything away from those kids, though. Those were some rockets."
Two of the "rockets" Zipfel referred to were round-trippers off the bats of Napoleon sluggers Madison Smith and Danielle Moore, a pair of juniors responsible for plating three runs out of the Wildcats' 6-0 lead after three innings of action.
With Napoleon up 1-0 and one away in the bottom of the second, Smith smacked a 2-2 blast over the centerfield fence that also scored sophomore Chevelle Franz to make it a 3-0 ballgame.
"Madison Smith's bomb in that second inning, I think that gave everybody a little confidence, including herself," said Boland. "Any time you get a big fly on the opening day, everybody gets excited about that."
Especially Moore, whose solo shot against the wind into left capped a three-run third frame against Defiance sophomore starting pitcher Anna Riggenbach.
Napoleon junior Beth Homan reached first on an infield error to open the third before being driven in on a clutch triple by Allison Lamming in the next at-bat. Lamming then crossed home via a dash to the dish when Bulldog catcher Emily Turner was forced to make a throw to first on a dropped third strike.
With two away, Moore upped the Wildcats' lead to 6-0 on her first-pitch rocket.
Meanwhile, Lamming kept the Bulldog hitters off-kilter in the circle, allowing no runs and no hits through three frames of work for Napoleon.
The Wildcat senior hurler also fanned three and walked one before sophomore Rachel Pilkington finished out the game.
"We knew there were going to be some runs put on the board tonight. They're a good-hitting team," Zipfel said of Napoleon. "We've been very prone to hitting these balls back to the pitcher's mound that are weak or putting balls in the air. So that's obviously something we've got to work on."
While Defiance also made a pitching change after three, bringing in sophomore Josee Hale, the Lady 'Dogs plated a pair in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by Kierstin Emerson that drove in Trista Guyton and pinch-runner Lexi Decker.
The fourth frame proved to be the best at the dish for Defiance, hanging two runs on two hits against Pilkington.
Emerson and junior Ryn Riehle each crossed home in the top of the sixth to pull the Bulldogs to within 7-4, but Napoleon responded with three runs in the home half to put the game out of reach.
"We have not been very aggressive," Zipfel explained. "If you look at the first two games, we've scored runs in the fourth. So we have basically needed to go through the lineup at least one time before we score runs.
"It's not unnoticed by us. We'll work on it," he added, as his Lady Bulldogs prepare for a trip to Archbold on Thursday. "We'll work on it tomorrow night and work on it in the cage. That's all you really can do."
Moore led the Napoleon bats with a triple and home run batting sixth in the lineup, while Smith followed in the eight-hole with a two-bagger and home run. Rounded out by Franz with two singles and senior Julianna Wulf with a single and double, Napoleon's six-through-nine hitters contributed eight hits out of 12 at-bats.
"Any of the 10 that we've got here to bat in that part of the order, it's a tough decision to make," admitted Boland, whose Wildcats are slated to face Wauseon on Thursday. "Finally I just went with something, and I think our bottom's going to be strong with what we've got. So I'm really happy. As long as we can stay consistent, we're going to be strong up and down the lineup this year."
Linescore
Defiance 000 202 0 - 4 4 3
Napoleon 123 103 x - 10 12 1
Records: Napoleon 1-0, Defiance 1-1.
Winning pitcher: Allison Lamming (3 innings, 0 runs, 0 hits, 3 strikeouts, 1 walk). Other: Rachel Pilkington.
Losing pitcher: Anna Riggenbach (3 innings, 6 runs, 5 hits, 6 strikeouts, 1 walk). Other: Josee Hale.
Leading hitters: (Defiance, 4 hits). (Napoleon, 12 hits) - Taylor Rieger single, triple; Allison Lamming triple; Danielle Moore triple, home run; Mercedes McNett 2 singles; Madison Smith double, home run; Julianna Wulf single, double.