Another Strong Outing for the Lady Bulls

The Lady Bulls' new "Dynamic Duo" of Lauren Phillips and Leah Pemberton are two names East Bay will not soon forget after Bloomingdale won 10-0 on Thursday.

Riding a three-game winning streak on the arm of pitcher Lauren Phillips, Bloomingdale (7-7-0, 4-1-0, first place, 6A Division 8) showed its dominance in a commanding win at home against East Bay (7-8-0, 3-4-0, fifth place, 5A District 8).

Phillips (3-2, 3.60 ERA, 17 k), who previously found time on the mound primarily in relief work out, has worked herself into the Lady Bulls starting rotation after going 3-0 in her last three games against Alonso, Wharton and East Bay.

On Thursday, she was no less spectacular throwing four innings of perfect work. Phillips faced 18 East Bay batters and allowed only four hits while striking out four.

Junior pitcher Leah Pemberton entered into Thursday's game looking to shut the door in the fifth inning in relief of Phillips. She, too, showed her dominance as she held Indian batters both scoreless and hitless. What was previously the Bulls' biggest weakness has suddenly turned into its greatest strength on the arms of the two junior pitchers.

Prior to Thursday's game, East Bay pitching had given up over four runs per game. The Lady Bulls took full advantage of every pitch scoring 10 runs on 17 hits.

No inning was bigger than the second as Bloomingdale climbed all over the East Bay pitching staff scoring six to take a decisive lead, 6-0. They added two runs each in the fourth and fifth inning forcing a run rule game decision after the fifth inning.

Second-baseman/pitcher Leah Pemberton would carry the Bulls with her play on both sides of the plate. She pitched a perfect fifth inning to close out the Bulls victory and went four-for-four, swinging for two doubles, scoring 1 run and driving home three RBI's.

For her extraordinary performance, Pemberton was selected as Bloomingdale's player of the week on maxpreps.com.

On Thursday, Bloomingdale had a team batting average of .500 on 24 at bats. Leading the way were center-fielder Jordan Alexander and catcher Abbey Hensley as each player went two-for-three with 2 RBI and a triple, each.

The Bloomingdale bats have become hot in mid-March. After scoring a total of six runs to begin the month, the Lady Bulls have come on strong in their last three games, scoring 21 runs while allowing only six against them. As a team they have batted .398 with seven doubles and three triples on extra base hits.

With Thursday's win, Bloomingdale now holds a commanding share of first place in the 6A Division 8 conference with Plant.

Bloomingdale will host undefeated Durant at home on Tuesday at 7pm.