ELVERADO SOFTBALL: Johnston City Wins Diamond Duel

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[ C.C. Hutchinson outdueled Jenna Cochran as Johnston City's softball team got past Elverado, 2-0, in their Black Diamond Conference showdown Tuesday.

Hutchinson hurled a one-hitter with three strikeouts and two walks while Cochran scattered six hits and one earned run in a losing effort.

The Lady Indians upped their records to 17-6 overall and 4-1 in the BDC while Elverado fell to 11-7 and 2-2.

"Cochran had us off-balance all game long. She puts a lot of spin on her pitches, and we had trouble hitting and bunting the ball," Johnston City head coach Lyndell Zanotti said. "C.C. has become a clutch player in the circle. She's a competitor and battles to the final out."

Johnston City cracked the scoreboard in the second inning, sparked by Emily Mouyard's leadoff single and stolen base.

With one out, Marissa Montgomery put down a bunt to the first baseman, who made an errant throw to third base in hopes of gunning down Mouyard, who raced home for the first run.

It stayed a one-run game until the bottom of the sixth as Emma Johansen, who was 2-for-3, led off with a single. On a popout, Elverado attempted to double up Johansen, but the throw was wild allowing her to advance all the way to third base.

Mikala Martin fouled off several pitches before connecting on a run-scoring single that gave the Lady Indians a little breathing room with a two-run cushion.

Prior to that, the Lady Falcons put runners on second and third with two outs as Kelsey Tuthill stepped into the batter's box. Tuthill scorched the ball down the third-base line, where Briana Morgan made a diving stop to her right and threw a strike to Montgomery at first for the putout.

"That was the play of the game," Zanotti said. "If she doesn't make that play, they probably take a 2-1 lead. Breezy made several defensive plays, but that one saved the game for us."

Elverado (11-7, 2-2 in BDC) was rained out of a visit to Z-R-C Wednesday and is slated to play Thursday at Eldorado.

Five of the seven Lady Falcons defeats have been by two or more losses.

"We just weren't real sharp," Elverado coach Donette Wheatley said. "We hit the ball hard quite a bit. We just couldn't find any holes. There were a few base running mistakes and throwing errors. You can't have those against good teams like Johnston City."

The Lady Falcons were minus starting infielder Rachel Hunziker (illness) and Wheatley was forced to switch her line-up at game time.

Elverado's lone hits were a bunt single by Sami Hicks and J. Cochran's infield safety.

Now 6-6, J. Cochran limited the hard-hitting J'City team to just six hits. She struck out nine and didn't issue a walk. Both Lady Indians runs were unearned.

J'City 2, Elverado 0

EHS 000 000 0-0 2 2

J'City 010 000 1-2 6 0

J. Cochran and Watts. Hutchinson and Mouyard. WP-Hutchinson. LP-J. Cochran. TOP HITTERS-EHS: Hicks 1-1. J'CITY: Martin 1-3 (RBI), Johansen 2-3.

-Jeff Profitt contributed