Usually, the pitchers are ahead of the hitters.

For the Chesterton Trojans, it appears everybody is all caught up to speed as they pounded out 12 hits en route to a 13-3 home-opening victory over Griffith on Thursday.

“I’m pretty happy with where we are to start the season,” Chesterton coach LouAnn Hopson said.

The Trojans wasted little time jumping on Griffith starter Rhianna Cox. A walk to Jaren Lynch to leadoff the bottom of the first was followed by a bunt single from Sarah Richards.

After a wild pitch, Sydney Cooley drilled a two-run single up the middle scoring Lynch and Richards. Courtesy runner Michaela Sosby scored on a two-run home run from sophomore Megan Matheny.

“(Asst. coach) Dan (Lynch) and I can’t take all the credit for our hitting,” Hopson said. “Our older kids are a year older and we knew the new kids were talented. But, we did work really hard on hitting in the preseason.”

Chesterton added another run in the second inning as Sammie Howard singled with one out. A stolen base and two wild pitches later, the Trojans had a 4-0 lead.

Griffith rallied in the top of the third inning against Trojan starter Sydney Cooley. The freshman nearly worked her way out of a jam, but a two-out error led to a three-run home run from Sarah Galambos. Cooley worked all five innings and struck out seven in picking up the win.

“Sydney did a really nice job,” Hopson said. “We knew we had a couple of kids who could come in and take the pressure off of Taylor (Harlow), so she wouldn’t have to pitch every night. All three of our pitchers do something different. It’s a nice mix.”

As they did in the season-opener at Lowell, the Trojans responded with three runs of their own in the bottom of the third.

Cooley reached on an error and went to second on a wild pitch. A walk and fielder’s choice put runners on the corners for Matheny’s RBI single. An RBI ground out for Ryan Bozak and RBI single for Jaren Lynch pushed the score to 8-3.

“We’ve given up a big inning twice now,” Hopson said. “Some of it is on our pitchers. Some of it is on our defense. You can live with that if you keep scoring a lot of runs.”

Three more runs came in the fourth inning as Cooley started things with a double to centerfield. Courtesy runner Micheala Sosby scored on a single by Harlow. Sosnowski blasted a two-run home run over the right field wall for an 11-3 lead.

“We’ve really worked on our posture at the plate and not trying to pull everything,” Hopson said. “We’re trying to just stay tall and drive the ball to right-center.”

The Trojans completed the 10-run rule with a leadoff walk to Annette Frank and Cooley ended it with a two-run home run to right-center field.

“These kids just believe they can hit,” Hopson said.

Offensively, Cooley had three hits, while Matheny, Heather Overla and Howard added two hits each.

Chesterton returns to the field tonight when they travel to Hanover Central for a 4:30 p.m. start. On Saturday, the Trojans will host Mishawaka in a doubleheader scheduled for an 11 a.m. first pitch.

SCORING BY INNINGS

Griffith 003 00 -- 3 4 4

Chesterton 413 32 -- 13 12 2

2B -- Amber Delpano (G); Sydney Cooley ©. HR -- Sarah Galambos (G); Sydney Cooley, Jeannette Sosnowski, Megan Matheny ©. Pitching Summary -- Griffith -- Rhianna Cox (4 IP, 12 H, 3 K, 4 BB); Chesterton -- Sydney Cooley (5 IP, 4 H, 7 K, 1 BB). WP -- Cooley (1-0). LP -- Cox (1-1).

The Chesterton junior varsity picked up a come-from-behind 10-9 victory over Griffith on Thursday.

The Trojans came through in the bottom of the seventh inning with two runs to win the game.

Shelby Carter had five singles to pace the Chesterton offense. Lisette Martinez had two singles, a double and three RBI’s.

Amanda Dujmovich had two triples and three runs batted in.

Posted 4/1/2011