Warren East's Katie Gardner touches home plate after hitting a home run during their win over Greenwood on Wednesday, April 12, 2017, at Warren East. (Austin Anthony / photo@bgdailynews.com)

Warren East sophomore pitcher Katie Gardner often doesn’t need much to thrive, just a bit of run support will often do the trick.

The Lady Raiders made sure Gardner got that back in a hurry Wednesday against visiting District 14 rival Greenwood, plating three first-inning runs to give Gardner a lead she never came close to losing in a 9-0 victory.

Gardner went all seven innings for the win, allowing only two hits and hitting a pair of batters while striking out 13 to record the shutout.

Gardner was in complete command of her pitching arsenal against the Lady Gators, giving the right-hander the confidence to throw any pitch at any time in the count.

“I could bust them inside with my fastball and get them with my curve on the outside, and it seemed to work,” Gardner said. “And then my changeup I worked in a little there, got them out on their front foot to where they couldn’t hit it.”

Warren East (10-3 overall, 3-1 District 14) gave Gardner an early cushion by maximizing the yield of that first-inning rally. Kendall Smith led off with a sharp single to left field off Greenwood starter Madison Thomas, and took second base on the throw back to the infield. Nikki Gibbs then reached on a throwing error to put two runners on for freshman Olivia Price, who smoked the second pitch she saw over the right-field fence for a three-run home run.

“They oversailed the cutoff, and that pretty much changes the inning,” Warren East coach Philip McKinney said. “Instead of now we’ve got a runner on first, let’s bunt her over – she’s already in scoring position, and I think that takes a little pressure off.

“Then Nicki gets on, and (Olivia) got a good pitch and she drove through it well. She’s been having problems with dipping her back shoulder and popping things up. She’s just a freshman, and when you look at her she ain’t no bigger than nothing, but she just hit a line drive about 220 feet.”

The Lady Raiders struck for two more runs in the fourth, as Gardner unloaded on a pitch from Lady Gators reliever GraceAnn Rimel for a two-run homer to to left. That was the first damage done against Rimel, who’d come on to start the second inning and stranded the bases loaded in two straight innings.

“We didn’t do a good job on the drop ball that GraceAnn was throwing on the outside corner,” McKinney said. “We were pulling off of it and we couldn’t touch it. I wasn’t really happy with our adjustments.”

Leading 5-0 in the sixth, Warren East nearly ended the game early with more more scoring outburst. The Lady Raiders plated four runs in the inning. Smith drew a bases-loaded walk to force in a run, Gibbs followed with an RBI single and Price drove in two more with a single to right.

Greenwood (6-7, 1-2) didn’t get much going at the plate against Gardner, who limited the Lady Gators to just an infield hit through the first six innings.

In the seventh, Greenwood nearly broke through. Taylor Campbell led off the inning by reaching on an error and took second on Gardner’s wild pitch. One out later, Tabitha Willgruber singled to center. Campbell raced for home plate, but the throw beat her and Smith was waiting to apply the tag.

“You’ve got to score runs – you can’t get beat 9-0,” Greenwood coach Steven Albert said. “It doesn’t matter how we pitch. If you don’t score, you can’t win.”

Smith, Price, Gardner and Jeyda Bays each had two hits apiece to lead the Lady Raiders, who got a measure of revenge following their last meeting with Greenwood – a 3-2 loss in the District 14 tournament that ended Warren East’s season.

“We had to think about the last game we played them in, which was last year in districts,” Gardner said. “We had to come out and show them that we’re better than we were last year.”

Warren East visits Bowling Green at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. Greenwood next plays at Franklin-Simpson at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

Greenwood 000 000 0 – 0

Warren East 300 204 x – 9

WP – Gardner. LP – Thomas.