Bartlett 9, Lake Park 0

From the second pitch of the game to the final out, Bartlett's softball team left an 0-4 weekend in Ohio very deep into the rear view mirror Monday.

Hawks sophomore leadoff hitter Callie Dennison deposited an 0-1 pitch from Lake Park senior Missy Mazur about 30 feet beyond the left-field fence and senior standout Lauren Wydra fired a 2-hitter with 13 strikeouts as Bartlett (12-5, 8-0) bounced back from a tough weekend at the Wendy's Classic to pummel Lake Park, the Daily Herald area's No. 1 team, 9-0 in a key Upstate Eight Conference game at Bartlett.

And, the Hawks scored the lopsided win with their leading hitter and catcher, junior Elizabeth Kay, playing right field and hitting left-handed due to a finger injury sustained in Ohio.

"I am impressed," said Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith. "It started in Ohio. When E-Kay first got hurt, the rest of them were like 'my gosh that was E-Kay.' In their minds that's when it came together. Instead of being down about being 0-4 out there, we brought that experience back here and turned it into a positive."

Dennison had one of the best days of her Hawks career, going 4-for-4 with 3 RBI, setting the tone for the whole afternoon with her bomb off a Mazur change-up.

"The first pitch I fouled right back so I had a feeling a change-up was coming," said Dennison. "Once we got that one hit we all got up there and started hitting."

And how. The Hawks pounded out 12 hits on the day and put the game away with a 6-run second inning that was highlighted by Concetta Lampugnano's 3-run double with two outs. Dennison and Wydra each drove in runs in the inning as well and another scored on an infield error off a Kay grounder.

"I told the girls that some days you just have to take your hats off and today you have to take your hats off to (Bartlett)," said Lake Park coach Cray Allen., whose team is now 10-2 overall and 6-1 in the UEC. "Give them the credit. They came out swinging the bats."

The Lancers did, too, but they couldn't make contact. Wydra struck out the first 7 batters of the game and didn't allow a hit until Alexis Munaco beat out an infield grounder with two outs in the fourth. Lynsey Cierzki added a sixth-inning bloop double for the only other hit off the Bartlett senior, who didn't pitch on Saturday in Ohio while nursing a sore shoulder and who said the 0-4 performance at the Wendy's Classic didn't faze her or her teammates.

"A lot of it comes from Wolf," Wydra said of how the Hawks bounced back. "He told us we should be proud of how we played. What we learned in Ohio is how versatile we are."

That showed Monday too, as senior Steph Jones stepped in for Kay behind the plate and did an admirable job.

"Kudos to Steph," said Wolfsmith. "She hadn't caught Lauren all year long. Lauren's ball moves a lot and Steph did a great job. She received well and she framed well. Steph went out there and said 'hey, I can play too.' "

Wydra, Jones and Nicole Beck (RBI) each had 2 hits for the Hawks.