Bartlett stuns Lake Park with 6 runs in 7th

Nicole Palmer was all set to pinch run for Bartlett first baseman Jacki Gulczynski.

Instead, Hawks' coach Jim Wolfsmith called on Palmer to deliver a hit. And she did just that.

Palmer smacked a walk off 2-run hit right up the left side of the field to score Gulczynski and Sammi Treskow and give Bartlett a 6-5 Upstate Eight Conference victory over Lake Park at Bartlett Friday.

Palmer's shot capped a two-out rally as Bartlett (5-1, 3-1) scored all 6 of its runs with two outs.

"I was kind of freaking out," Palmer said. "(The pitch) was kind of on the outside, so I was trying to take it to the opposite side."

Lake Park (4-2, 2-1) looked to have the victory all but locked up as Megan Morales popped up for what should have been the third and final out. But the Lancers misplayed the ball, allowing Morales to reach base and Nicole Beck to score and bring the Hawks to within 5-2.

Lauren Chuchvara and Kaylyn Zierke then connected for basehits, with Zierke's scoring Allyse Taormina, who was running for Morales.

No. 8 hitter Gulczynski then singled in Chuchvara, making it a 5-4 game when Wolfsmith called on Palmer.

"She's going to get contact," Wolfsmith said. "She's not going to strike out. Nicole has had three or four really good games with the bat. She's a lefty slapper with power."

Prior to the seventh inning, Bartlett had stranded 9 runners with 6 in scoring position.

Lake Park just put the ball over the fence.

The Lancers got home runs from leadoff hitter Kelly Mieszala, Samantha Becker and Sarah Koch, accounting for 3 of their 5 runs. All 3 home runs were of the leadoff variety.

Mieszala (3-for-4) put Lake Park up 1-0 when she opened the game by taking a 3-1 pitch deep. Koch extended the lead to 2-0 when she smacked a 2-1 pitch deep to center field to open the fourth inning. An inning later it was Becker going over the center field wall on the second pitch of the inning.

"We put everything into our hitting," Lake Park coach Tom Mazzie said. "Now that our hitting is where we need it to be, we need to work on defense."

Angie Bates (4-2) took the loss for the Lancers, but gave up just 1 earned run, just her second of the season. Bartlett's Callie Dennison (4-1) picked up the win, allowing only 3 earned runs, with the other 2 Lake Park runs coming off Bartlett's 3 fielding errors. After giving up 3 hits in the first inning, Dennison surrendered just 5 hits over the next six innings.