Softball: Bartlett outslugs Geneva

Elyse Hickey was looking to give her Bartlett softball teammates the ultimate collective cycle Monday afternoon in Geneva.

The Hawks' junior had already clouted a 3-run blast over the right-center field fence; Katie Fornoff and Taylor Rotondo later added a respective 2-run blast and solo shot for Bartlett.

Hickey strode to the plate in the top of the fifth inning with nowhere for Geneva to put the third-place, left-handed hitter.

Hickey drove another line shot to the Vikings' deepest reaches of right-center.

The ball fell less than two feet short for a grand slam, but Hickey plated 3 more teammates in the process.

It marked the conclusion of Bartlett scoring 11 unanswered runs against the Vikings in the schools' Upstate Eight Conference crossover game.

Geneva brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh, but the Hawks' Dani Kirby induced a harmless fly to center to finish off the 12-9 victory.

"(The 3-run homer in the third inning) was just an amazing feeling," Hickey said. "We were really pounding the (Geneva) pitchers. I think we took advantage of the strike zone. (The umpire) was being really tight, and they had to go at us."

Hickey drove home half of the Hawks' 12 runs.

The only time Geneva retired the southpaw slugger was in the first inning when the Vikings turned their first of two double plays off a vicious Hickey shot to Alissa Dierks.

Geneva (4-2, 1-1) scored 6 of the first 7 runs as the Vikings' Emily Plocinski and Katherine Geary easily cleared the fences with second-inning, 2-run home runs.

It was the first pair of 5 combined home runs for the teams.

"It was a hitters' day today," Geneva coach Greg Dierks said. "The wind was blowing out."

Rotondo tied the game moments later in the Hawks' third inning with a run-scoring single, and Fornoff wasted little time in giving Bartlett (6-3, 3-0) the lead for good.

The senior followed home Sydney Quagliano with another long blast slightly the other way to start the Hawks' fourth.

"I was just going up there trying to make good contact," Fornoff said. "Our team has a lot of good hitters. I knew if we could get the momentum going we would be doing well. Hitting is contagious."

Kirby pitched admirably over the last five-plus innings to earn her fourth win on the season.

"Dani is a talented kid," Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith said. "She is a senior pitcher for a reason. The girls believe they can hit and play with anybody."

In addition to its pair of twin killings, Geneva threw out three Bartlett runners trying to take an extra base.

"We were fortunate to get off the field earlier than we probably should have," Dierks said.