Freeburg freshman Lizzy Ludwig baffles Columbia in early season showdown
Columbia first year softball coach Brianna Weilbacher admits she didn’t know much about Freeburg freshman Lizzy Ludwig before the Eagles game Thursday with the Midgets.
Ludwig left a lasting first impression.
A 6-foot-1 pitcher, Ludwig went the distance for the fourth time in as many starts and the Midgets manufactured a pair of runs for a 2-1 win in an early season Cahokia Conference showdown.
In the midst of seven-game winning streak in which it had scored 60 runs, Columbia (7-2) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a run-scoring single by Ava Khoury. But Ludwig, getting plenty of support from the Midgets defense, allowed only five hits the rest of the way.
The win lifts Freeburg to 5-2 and gives coach Becky Mueth’s team an early edge in the race for the Cahokia Conference Mississippi Division title. The Eagles and Midgets split a pair of league games and went a combined 60-4 last year.
“It’s a big win and actually feels a little surreal for a first year coach to come here and get a win against Columbia,’’ Mueth said. “I was pleased at how we bounced back after the O’Fallon game (an 11-0 loss) on Wednesday.
“With Lizzy being so young we wanted to save her for today. We felt this was a much more important game.’’
Ludwig, who improved to 3-1 and lowered her ERA to 2.17, continued to show the poise of an experienced ace on a rainy Thursday afternoon. Stranding Eagles base runners in four of the final six innings, Ludwig made big pitches when she needed too.
“It feels really good to beat a team like Columbia. My teammates and I have been working hard all week getting in the mindset that we could beat them,’’ Ludwig said. “Today, my drop ball was really working well. They (Columbia) were hitting a lot of balls on the ground and the defense made the plays.
“Me? I just try to stay calm ... and be cool out there.’’
The Midgets offense used a little small ball against Columbia and its senior ace Kaelyn Rheinecker to take early control of the division race.
A walk, a sacrifice bunt by Lindsey Widel and an infield hit by Kelsie Burrows tied the game at 1 in the third inning and when a rare throwing error by Columbia all-state third baseman Lexi Touchette allowed the go-ahead run to score in the fifth, Ludwig took took it from there.
‘”I really didn’t know about her (Ludwig) until today. She pitched well. Changed speeds against us,’’ Weilbacher said.
“We had a couple of errors which hurt us a little bit. But we’re still playing a lot of young kids and while we’ve played a lot of games early on, we haven’t really had much time to practice. We’ll be fine.”
While Weilbacher could find room for improvement with the Eagles’ execution on Thursday, Mueth said the Midgets did exactly what they needed to do in order to win the game.
“Just before the game, I told the girls we were going to need to manufacture some runs today. We did that. We got bunts down, we ran the bases and we put some pressure on then to where they made a couple of errors. Plus our defense was great,’’ Mueth said.
“Lizzy is only a freshman but she’s pitched in a lot of big games already. She’s got a lot of poise for someone so young. She’s going to be a lot of fun to watch the next few years.’’
This story was originally published March 28, 2019 at 10:43 PM.