Taylor Cuchra’s second-chance blast part of Marquette’s big offensive day vs. Putnam County

OTTAWA – Marquette’s Taylor Cuchra was pretty sure she was hit by a pitch in the third inning of the Crusaders’ 11-1 Tri-County Conference home victory over Putnam County early Tuesday evening. Cuchra was so confident of it, in fact, the senior slugger dropped her bat and jogged to first base.

If she was hit, however, neither the home-plate nor the field umpire saw it, and Cuchra was called back to the plate. She picked her bat back up, fouled off a few pitches and then proceeded to crush a no-doubt-about-it, two-run homer well over the fence in straightaway left field.

“It did hit me,” Marquette’s No. 3 hitter said. “It barely skimmed me, but I wanted the base, so I took it ... but it definitely [worked out].

“I knew [the home run would leave the ballpark], 100%. I fouled a few off, and I knew I just needed to wait back a little bit and it’d be gone. Timing, that’s all it ever is.”

It was that kind of day offensively for Cuchra and the rest of the Crusaders, now 16-4 overall and 6-3 on the TCC loop after the series-opening win over the Panthers.

“It was fun to see that,” first-year Marquette head coach Curtiss Johnson said of Cuchra’s blast. “She hit the ball hard. The umpires, I’ll take their word it was the right call, but she went back there and got her pitch.”

Putnam County – scheduled to host Marquette on Thursday to conclude the two-game set – falls to 12-11 overall, 5-4 in the Tri-County.

“We’re really young,” Putnam County coach Adrianna Rolando said, “and we’re also really beat-up. We have nine in our lineup, and nine’s all we’ve got right now.

“So with our starting five freshmen, I’m not completely upset, but I do know that they’re capable of a lot better than [today’s game]. ... They know it shouldn’t have gone like this, but it did. Now we get to go again Thursday.”

The Crusaders scored in each of their five turns at bat against PC’s Myah Richardson (4 2/3 IP, 11 R, 7 ER, 10 H, 4 BB, 3 K). Marquette’s attack was spearheaded by Taylor Cuchra (two hits including a homer, four RBIs), Avery Durdan (a two-run homer of her own in the fourth inning), leadoff hitter Hunter Hopkins (single, two doubles, three runs scored) and winning pitcher Savanah Erickson (two singles, one RBI).

Makayla Backos delivered a walk-off sacrifice fly with one out in the fifth, scoring Kelsey Cuchra to enforce the 10-run mercy rule and cement the victory for Erickson (5 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 5 K).

“Savanah did a great job,” Johnson said. “She’s stepping up big time right now with some injuries we have, so I’m just proud of her.”

Putnam County plated its lone run in the fourth inning. Chloe Parcher lined a leadoff single, moved to third on one of the eight combined fielding errors in the game – five on the Panthers; three by the Crusaders – and scored via a heads-up, disciplined tag-up on Ella Irwin’s foul pop fly behind the first-base bag.

“On the flip side, that’s a fun thing about having a young team. They listen,” Rolando said with a laugh. “When stuff like that happens in a game and they [listen and execute], it’s fun to watch that click.

“It was actually a hit-and-run [with Richardson at first base breaking with the pitch], so it was two things going right [despite the pop foul], and it did work, and we got an RBI out of it.”

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Marquette's Lily Brewer slides in safe to score a run as the ball gets away from Putnam County catcher Piper Terando on Tuesday, April 29, 2025 in Ottawa. (Scott Anderson)