Softball: Keller, Dierks lead Geneva past Bartlett

After homering in Geneva's first game of the year, Katie Keller had gone the next six without one.

Not that it's that long of a stretch, but after blasting 12 a year ago, the Northern-Illinois bound senior catcher was itching for another.

Keller delivered in her first at-bat Thursday at Bartlett, following a single by Kate Geary with a 2-run shot to left-center. Ali Dierks made the early lead hold up, tossing a complete game 4-hitter in the Vikings' 4-3 victory in an Upstate Eight crossover.

"My main focus was to let go of the stuff in my head. I've had a lot of stuff in my head the past couple games," Keller said of her thought process heading into the at-bat against Amber Pagan. "My emphasis was just to swing my swing.

"I'm trying so hard to smack everything. I'm trying to flush it all out and get last year's stuff out of my head and be who I am and put my swing on the ball."

Keller lined a single in her second at-bat and then walked in her final two to reach base all four times - not that surprising after her .710 on-base percentage as a junior.

"Katie put a good swing on that ball," Geneva coach Greg Dierks said. "It was great to play ahead the whole game, it makes a big difference."

Bartlett (3-4, 0-3) got a run back in its half of the first. Pagan walked with two outs, took second on Taylor Rotondo's single and scored on Janelle Ulaszek's bloop single to right.

Geneva (7-1, 3-0) scored its other two runs in the third, this time relying on small ball. Keller singled, stole second and took third when Alyssa Kramer reached on an error.

Coach Dierks called for a suicide squeeze, and Ali Dierks got the bunt down. Both runners scored when Bartlett threw wild to first base.

"You can't play error ball against a team like that because they are so good at keeping innings going and making you pay," Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith said. "They are not quite the power hitting team they were last year but they are so good at making contact. You saw them put the suicide down. We've got to find a way to clean that up."

Bartlett pulled closer with single runs in the fourth and sixth, the first on an RBI single by Anna Tomillo and the later on a Vikings error.

But Ali Dierks didn't allow the Hawks to get even, retiring Bartlett's No. 9, 1 and 2 hitters in order in the seventh to keep Pagan and Rotondo from getting another at-bat.

"It was a good game for her," Greg Dierks said. "They didn't have anything where they strung many together. I thought she played good defense. This would have been a painful loss because there were a couple little things we could have done to keep their runs down."

Ali Dierks struck out five and walked three to improve to 5-0. Her changeup was a key pitch Thursday.

"We've worked a lot in practice utilizing my best pitches and using them in counts that are going to be effective," Ali Dierks said. "That's what I did today. I trusted my pitches and trusted my defense and good things happened."

For the Hawks, Rotondo went 2-for-3 and Ulaszek walked twice while reaching base all three at-bats.

"It was a good softball game," Wolfsmith said. "I thought our approaches today were better. I still want to see us drive the ball more. I'm much happier with what I saw today with the overall performance by the pitchers, the hitters and even the defense. We've still got a ways to go to get to the level we need to."