Bartlett Hawks rally to trip up Lake Park 5-3

A thawing of the Bartlett bats' deep freeze coincided with a Lake Park meltdown.

The Hawks scored 4 runs in the top of the seventh inning, and needed just 1 basehit to do it, rallying past Lake Park 5-3 on a windy Friday morning in Roselle.

It was a welcome relief for Bartlett (4-2, 1-2 Upstate Eight Conference), which was shut out by Neuqua Valley and South Elgin the previous two days.

"The last couples games, we just weren't ourselves," Bartlett coach Jim Wolfsmith said. "Six errors against Neuqua Valley, a couple against South Elgin, we weren't hitting or fielding the ball well. It was nice to see us come out of our slump a little bit and swing the bats."

Trailing 3-1 going into the seventh, the auspicious turn of events started for Bartlett when pinch hitter Katie Popovich was plunked on the thigh on a 3-2 pitch. No. 9 hitter Allyse Taormina then walked on four pitches, and both runners moved up on Callie Dennison's bunt.

Up next was Rachel Anello, who lifted a flyball to center field that Lake Park's Vicki Tomaka lost in the swirling winds. One run scored on the play, and courtesy runner Chelsea Klein came home with the tying run on a wild pitch.

"(The wind) helped us out there, I guess," said Anello, who was 3-for-3 with a sacrifice bunt. "We practice in this stuff all the time. We're used to it defensively. Offensively, you just have to put the bat on the ball."

Lake Park intentionally walked the next two batters to load the bases and set up a force, but on Megan Morales' groundball to short the throw home was low past the catcher, allowing 2 runs to score.

"Usually if the pitcher gets in trouble, the fielders bail them out," Lake Park coach Tom Mazzie said, "and if the fielders have trouble the pitchers bail them out. That seventh inning it was a total meltdown on all areas."

"We got one run in and then the wild pitch and other craziness, it happens," Wolfsmith said. "We'll take it."

Up to the seventh, it was Lake Park playing flawless defense and taking advantage of Bartlett mistakes.

Lancers starter Angie Bates struck out five through six innings, Anello's RBI single in the fifth scoring Bartlett's only run to that point.

Lake Park (3-2, 1-1) scored its 3 runs in the fourth, benefiting from Bartlett miscues. A Tomaka single scored Carly Willert with the first run, Stephanie Becker hit a line drive off a Bartlett infielder's glove for the second score and a third came in on an errant throw.

"We play for June," Mazzie said, "and this is just one game. Our conference is so tough, three or four losses might be enough to win it this year."

Dennison (4-1) settled in after that, holding Lake Park hitless over the last three innings as Bartlett avoided its third conference loss to start the season.

"We stumbled, but now we've righted ourselves," Wolfsmith said. "Hopefully, now we'll find our stride."