Dexter slides by NMCC

Dexter's Kelsey Flanigan safely steals second base in the third inning (Photos by David Jenkins, Staff)

Nine run fourth inning lifts the Lady Bearcats in opener

NEW MADRID -- The Dexter Lady Bearcats used a big fourth inning to get past the NMCC Lady Eagles 9-4 Monday in the season-opener for both teams.

Dexter scored nine runs in the fourth inning on only two hits, taking advantage of several Lady Eagle mistakes.

"We had one bad inning," said NMCC coach Steve Rogers. "We had a few errors, a few walks and a few wild pitches."

"It was a good inning," said Dexter coach Tammy Crowley. "They finally figured out the rhythm of their pitcher. She had a (hitch) to it."

NMCC's Shelby Lawrence slides safely under the tag of Dexter third baseman Kelsey Flanigan for a triple in the sixth inning

NMCC pitcher Brittany Masterson pitched four innings and held Dexter to only two hits, both coming in the nine-run fourth. She also struck out three and walked five.

Freshman Kelly Robey was impressive after relieving Masterson in the fifth and struck out eight in three innings while not allowing a hit while, walking two.

"She's played a lot of ball," Rogers said of his freshman hurler. "She comes from a real good family tradition. Her older sister was a power-hitting first baseman for me and of course Heather set all kinds of records at Three Rivers. She's going to be a dandy because she works at it."

Dexter's Alannah Duley picked up the win, pitching a complete game giving up four runs on eight hits. She struck out eight while not walking anyone.

"She's very consistent," Crowley said. "I can always count on strikes out of her."

Rogers said he was pleased with the way his team swung the bats, especially for the first game of the season.

"We hit the ball pretty well, sometimes right at them," Rogers said. "I was real pleased, not with the outcome but real pleased with the effort today and the swinging of the bats today. We just need to work on our fielding."

Robey and Shelby Lawrence were both 2-for-3 at the plate with a double and triple apiece. Masterson also added a single and double while going 2-for-3. Alexis Wells and Sonni Carlisle each added singles.

Dexter got a double from Amanda Dooley.

"I thought we played pretty good for our first game," Crowley said. "We were a little nervous at first but we shook them off."

Dexter will travel to Kennett today while NMCC will host Oak Ridge Thursday.

"We're real happy with the girls," Rogers said. "We got everybody in and got to see some things and hopefully we can be a little better prepared for Thursday."

Dexter 9, NMCC 4

Dexter 000 900 0 -- 9 2 0

NMCC 010 001 2 -- 4 8 4

WP -- Alannah Duley. LP -- Brittany Masterson. Extra-base hits: 2B -- (Dexter) Amanda Dooley. (NMCC) Shelby Lawrence, Kelly Robey, Brittany Masterson. 3B -- (NMCC) Lawrence, Robey.