North Marion visited Cascade Wednesday, and the Huskies took control of the Capital Conference softball race with a 7-1 win.

North Marion’s Shawna Bordreaux's RBI triple in the second inning got the Huskies off to a fast start, and a 1-0 lead. The Huskies added a second run in the third inning, but it was the fifth inning that blew the game open.

A single and a walk set the table, then Husky third baseman Charlie Woodard drove a two RBI triple, and scored on Bordreaux's RBI double, for a 5-0 lead. The Huskies, who totaled 8 hits against Cascade's Elayna Van Hess, extended the lead to 7-0 in the sixth inning. After one of four walks Van Hess issued on the day, and a single, Amy LePire doubled to drive in two runs.

Cascade rallied in the bottom of the sixth inning, but for only one run. Ashley Edwards singled, and after a walk, scored on Jessica Slate's RBI single. Slate took second on the play at the plate, but the Cougars couldn't do anything more.

Sam Pack limited the Cougars to four hits in picking up the complete game win.

Cascade Coach Tim Ganfield noted "North Marion did a great job, and hit the ball hard. It was a well deserved win. Sammie is a good pitcher, and moved the ball around. And then she comes inside, and you have to deal with it. We didn’t have enough ‘good’ at bats."

The win improved sixth ranked North Marion to 15-3 on the year, and 12-2 in the Capital Conference. Fifth ranked Cascade is 15-5, 10-3 in the league race. The win puts the Huskies in the drivers' seat for the championship, as they now have the tiebreaker over Cascade as well as tenth ranked Gladstone, having taken two of three game from both the Cougars and the Gladiators.

North Marion 011 032 0 – 7 8 1

Cascade 000 001 0 – 1 4 1

Pack (W) & Pringle; Van Hess (L), Slate (6) & Barnhardt.

CC