Timely hitting leads Batavia past Burlington
Batavia needed to get over mental hurdle of playing against Burlington Central.
As soon as the Bulldogs did, they were able to string some offense together and pull out a 5-4 nonconference softball victory on Rocket Hill Wednesday.
It did take Batavia (3-2) a little while to get going, however.
The Bulldogs put up 4 runs in the sixth and seventh innings, while limiting Central (4-2) to just a single run in the final 3 innings to take the victory.
"We had girls at the bottom of the order hitting," Batavia coach Leon Pedraza said. "It just took us a couple of innings to relax."
The relaxing was a littler easier after No. 9 hitter Bryanna Cikesh and senior captain Alexa Schofield each scored in the top of the seventh. Katie Luetkens singled in Cikesh, who reached base on one of Central's 4 errors. Schofield scored on a fielder's choice putting Batavia ahead 5-4.
Emily Dorjath and Alyssa Bleidorn each recorded RBI in the sixth to give Batavia a 4-3 advantage.
"In that last inning, we kept getting hits and building on top of (the lead)," said Batavia sophomore pitcher Brooke Nelson. "Everyone kind of followed through."
Central did make a run in the seventh after Kayla Oranger reached base on an error, stole second and was advanced to third but the Rockets couldn't get her across the plate.
Oranger was 1 of 5 Central runners stranded in the game. The Rockets managed just 2 hits and 1 run in the final three innings after putting up 3 runs in the first four innings.
"We're not hitting the ball real well right now," Rockets' coach Scott Sutherland said. "We didn't make some right choices (in the field). Sometimes the easiest play is the hardest one to make."
After surrendering just 1 run off 3 hits in the first 5 innings, Rockets' pitcher Jet Kein, pitching in place of starter Mackenzie Scott (illness), allowed 3 earned runs off 3 hits.
Central also committed 3 fielding errors during the final two innings after committing just a single error in the first five innings.
Batavia saw an opposite effect.
Nelson (2-2) came in after starter Katie Coleman allowed Rockets' senior Lindsay Lange a double to open the bottom of the fifth. The double was Lange's second extra-base hit of the game. Coleman, gave up 3 runs on 4 hits and trailed 3-1 lead going into the sixth inning. She struck out five.
"They hit the ball when they needed to," Sutherland said of the Bulldogs. "They got a couple of hits back-to-back and that's what you need to do."
Central jumped out to a 1-0 lead after Lange (2-for-2, 2 runs) scored on a wild pitch in the second inning. The senior tripled to open the inning and scored a batter later.