S. Elgin edges Geneva in extra innings
On a day when the softball teams exchanged gift runs with equanimity, South Elgin made Geneva pay for the last of its 6 errors.
Paige Allen, who opened the top of the 10th inning with a double off the left-field fence, raced home two batters later on a Geneva infield error.
Sam Bolin escaped a jam in the Vikings’ half by stranding two runners with a called third strike, and the Storm turned back Geneva with a 10-9 Upstate Eight Conference victory Wednesday.
“(Allen) got the game-winning hit for us (Tuesday) night,” South Elgin coach Jason Schaal said. “She is going to be a big-time ballplayer.”
Kelly Gordon, who homered in the Vikings’ fourth to draw Geneva to 9-8, sent the game into extra innings with a one-out, sixth-single with runners at the corners.
Geneva junior right-hander Natalie Erbe was both masterful in relief as well as being saddled a terrible-luck loser.
Erbe came in relief after South Elgin exploded for 5 fourth-inning runs to take a 9-6 lead; the junior shut down the Storm for five-plus innings before surrendering her lone run.
“She deserved a victory,” Geneva coach Greg Dierks said of Erbe.
Alyssa Buddle was the primary reason South Elgin improved to 4-10 overall, 2-1 in the league while sending Geneva to 5-3, 0-2.
The sophomore backstop roped 3 doubles on the afternoon, including a bases-loaded drive to left center in the fourth that emptied the bases.
Sara Irving and Bolin had consecutive run-scoring hits to follow Buddle as the Storm chased Geneva starter Haley Orwig from the circle.
“We needed to get a hit at the time,” Buddle said. “Whenever we needed to get a hit — numbers one through nine (in the lineup) — we were able to get a hit when we needed to.”
“(Biddle) is a special talent,” Schaal said. “The best thing about her is she is only a sophomore.”
Buddle was also front and center for the key defensive play of the afternoon: shortstop Victoria Watt gunned down Taylor Medernach, attempting to score on Anna Geary’s extra-base hit with South Elgin nursing a 1-run lead in the fifth.
“That was a huge play for us,” Buddle said. “That kept us going.”
The Storm scored all but 2 of its 10 runs with two outs, with Brittany Koss’ 2-run, wind-aided double being their early highlight.
Geneva scored 6 runs in its first two at-bats.
A 3-base throwing error led directly to 2 first-inning runs for Geneva, and the Vikings tallied four more in the second.
Kirsten Searcy had the big blow with a 2-run double. Gordon then sent the game into extra innings with her 2-run home run in the fourth and RBI single in the sixth.
“I was excited that we had a faster pitcher (in relief),” Gordon said. “We have been facing a lot of slower pitchers.”
Geneva had 17 hits on the afternoon and South Elgin answered with 12 of their own; the teams combined for 10 extra-base hits.