MANNFORD — Three games into the season, the Mannford Lady Pirate fastpitch softball team has apparently decided suspense is optional.
The Lady Pirates are 3-0. They have scored 31 runs on 39 hits. They have beaten Kellyville, McLoud and Sperry by doing something slightly different each time, which is generally a bad sign for everybody still waiting for their turn on the schedule.
Against Kellyville, they buried the Ponies beneath 17 hits.
At McLoud, they launched three home runs.
Against Sperry, they scored nine runs before some people had found a decent parking spot.
The Lady Pirates are kicking the gates open and asking why everyone else is still bothering to stretch.
The season began Monday, Aug. 10, with a 9-1 victory over Kellyville at Mannford High School.
Carlee Maxville went 4-for-4. Four trips to the plate. Four hits. No wasted space.
She doubled in the second, then singled in the third, fifth and sixth innings. She also stole two bases, because apparently, just reaching was not enough.
Mannford struck first when Cambri Casey blasted a solo home a run in the opening frame. Bella Gilbert and Maxville added RBI singles in the third, giving the Lady Pirates a 3-0 lead.
Then the sixth inning arrived and Kellyville’s afternoon went from God awful, to unsalvageable.
Brooke Kyser singled home a run. Tinley Greenwood singled home another. Gilbert doubled and brought two more across.
Abi Hockersmith lifted a sacrifice fly. Maxville finished the six-run surge with another RBI single.
Six straight reminders that Mannford’s lineup does not have a convenient place to hide.
Gilbert went 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Casey, Greenwood, Kyser and Leksikae Coleman also collected hits.
Casey handled the circle with zero apologies.
She gave up four hits and one unearned run over six innings, struck out nine and walked two. Mannford committed no errors, with Peyton Hightower recording nine defensive chances.
The Lady Pirates hit everything, caught everything and left Kellyville with very little to argue about.
Four days later, Mannford traveled to McLoud and brought their power supply.
Lexi Lovekamp opened the scoring in the second inning by sending a solo home run over the left-field wall. Hockersmith doubled home two runs in the third.
Gilbert launched a two-run homer to left in the fifth.
Then Casey stepped in during the sixth inning with two runners aboard and gave the yellow ball another ride.
Her three-run shot to left helped put away a 9-5 victory.
Casey went 3-for-3 with a single, a double and a home run. She was a triple short of the cycle, although McLoud probably was not interested in giving her another plate appearance to discuss it.
She also pitched all seven innings, striking out seven while allowing six hits and three earned runs.
Gilbert added two more hits, and Mannford finished with 11 as a team.
Through two games, the Lady Pirates had produced 28 hits, 18 runs and two completegame pitching performances from Casey.
Then Sperry came to town Friday. Sperry scored twice in the top of the first inning. That was… cute.
Mannford answered with nine.
The Lady Pirates sent batter after batter at the plate, turning the bottom half of one into an inning that felt less like a warm up and more like an eviction notice.
Casey delivered the loudest hit, absolutely crushing a three-run double. She later added a sacrifice fly in the same inning.
Mannford 9, Sperry 2. Nine runs. Four hits. One inning. Sperry got the first punch. Mannford responded with a complete beat down.
Casey added a solo home run to center in the sixth, finishing with five RBIs in the 13-8 Manifold win.
In the span of two games, Casey homered twice, doubled twice, singled, drove in eight runs and earned a pitching victory. Holy cow.
But Mannford’s 3-0 start is bigger than just one name. Maxville has been a nuisance from the leadoff end of the lineup. Gilbert has driven in runs in all three games and already has six RBIs. Hockersmith has delivered extra-base damage. Lovekamp has gone deep.
Kyser and Greenwood busted open the Kellyville game.
Coleman came out of the bullpen against Sperry and leveled off a game that threatened to get strange, allowing two earned runs over 4 and two thirds innings before Casey closed with a scoreless seventh.
Ella Maxville worked the opening innings in the circle against Sperry and struck out two.
Mannford also turned a double play, one of those clean little defensive moments in an 13-8 game where they closed the door on baserunners that were showing up like uninvited relatives.
The Lady Pirates have not been perfect. They gave up five runs to McLoud and eight to Sperry. The walks piled up Friday, and Sperry kept enough pressure on the game to prevent anybody from mentally packing up early.
But the season is overall encouraging. Mannford has already won a blowout, a road game and a slugfest. The girls can win behind pitching.
They can win with 17 singles and doubles. They can win by putting the ball over the fence. They can give up the first runs, shrug, and score nine before the inning ends.
There will be harder games ahead. There always are.
But a 3-0 record built against Kellyville, Class 4A McLoud and rival Sperry is not accidental. Mannford has scored at least nine runs every time it has taken the field. The Lady Pirates are averaging more than 10 runs per game.
They have a pitcher hitting home runs. They have a shortstop driving the middle of the order. They have a lineup capable of making one bad inning feel like a lost weekend.
And so far, nobody has found the brake pedal. Mannford has started 3-0.
The Lady Pirates are hitting everything they see.