Batavia breaks through against Geneva
Batavia's 9-7 win over Geneva on Wednesday was a long time coming for the Bulldogs - the first for the senior class over their rival in their final chance to do it.
The Bulldogs rallied for 6 runs in the fifth inning, turning an early 5-2 deficit into a come-from-behind win that had the Batavia players jumping for joy and exchanging hugs and high-fives after the final out.
"We just wanted to get a victory off Geneva," winning pitcher Alyssa Klemm said. "Usually Batavia softball doesn't win a lot from Geneva. I'm just speechless. I don't know what else to say. We just played a really good game. We came out here and played and hit hard and played really good defense."
Batavia (13-15, 8-10 in the Upstate Eight Conference River) lost 6-0 to Geneva (15-7, 11-5) earlier this year.
Eight players in the Batavia lineup had at least 1 hit, a team effort led by Jena Bendoraits (3-for-4), Christina Karius (2-for-4, 2 runs) and Tara Zufan (2-for-3, 2 RBI).
"We've been struggling the last few games, this was big for us," Batavia coach Lupe Castellanos said. "We came out here with a lot of energy. Our five seniors wanted to go out with a win over Geneva. They did a nice job getting our girls ready to play."
The Bulldogs got off to a good start against Emily Plocinski, taking a 2-0 lead in the second on a double to right-center by Ashley McNamara that scored Karius and starting pitcher Kaylan Waldron.
Geneva answered with 5 runs in the third, a rally that included RBI singles from Annika Radabaugh, Kaitlyn Plocinski and Molly Wrenn.
Klemm relieved in the fourth and pitched the final 4 innings, holding Geneva scoreless until the seventh.
Batavia got a run back in its half of the third on an RBI double by Bendoraits off the left-field fence.
The Vikings still held a 2-run lead going to the bottom of the fifth. Ryanne Rokos and Elyse Burns had hits to start the inning, and both scored to tie the game at 5-5 when the Vikings couldn't come up with a hot grounder off the bat of Natalie Offutt.
After Rachael Lovestrand, who played standout defense at second base, reached on a fielder's choice and Bendoraits singled, Karius gave Batavia a 6-5 lead with a single to right field.
A Geneva error made it 7-5, and Zufan came through with a clutch 2-out, 2-run single up the middle that plated the runs that ended up being the difference.
"They put the ball in play hard that inning," Geneva coach Greg Dierks said. "It just snowballed. They had a good approach at the plate and they earned it."
Rylie Porretto doubled in the seventh, and Maddie Keith and Taylor Mraz drove in runs, but Klemm ended the game with a comebacker.
"The biggest key for us was coming back in the top of the sixth and shutting them down," Castellanos said. "I think our bottom of our order came through today. I think that was key for us. We got some big 2-out hits."
Porretto led Geneva with 3 hits, and Radabaugh and Wrenn both had 2.
"Batavia was by far the better team today really from the first inning on," Dierks said. "They played with more intensity than us, more desire than us, they executed better, hit better, they pretty much did everything better. They deserved to win today. We have no excuses. We got outplayed today."