Bartlett nips St. Charles North
Kayla Haberstich could not have laid down a much better bunt.
The Bartlett shortstop placed what was going to be a sacrifice bunt to advance runners in the bottom of the seventh inning against St. Charles North. It transformed into a game-winning play.
The tough play on the ball sent the North Stars, who had tied the game at 7 with a run in the top half of the inning, scrambling to try to throw Haberstich out. A throwing error allowed her to reach first, but also sent Steph Tomazin racing home.
Tomazin scored on the play to keep the Hawks (10-2, 5-0) perfect in Upstate Eight Conference play with an 8-7 victory. It was Bartlett’s seventh straight win and snapped a 5-game winning streak for the North Stars.
“At first, I thought it was going to hit me. (But) I made sure to get out of the way, so the runner could score,” Haberstich said. “The game kept sea-sawing. We’re both such good teams. Both pitchers battled. Both teams were hitting.”
St. Charles North (7-4, 4-1) looked like it had taken the lead for good with a well-placed bunt from Shannon Caliri to lead off the inning. Leadoff hitter Sabrina Rabin (3-for-4, 2 runs, 2 RBI) smacked a hard hit double down the left field line to score Caliri tying the game at 7. But Hawks pitcher Tori Burke (6-2) finished the inning by striking out the final two batters after getting Kaitlyn Waslawski to ground out.
“We felt good after that,” North Stars’ coach Tom Poulin said of his team’s comeback. “I was proud of the girls for battling back. If we had played better defense, we would have had a nice road victory in the conference.”
North’s defense had a rough time all afternoon. The North Stars finished the game with 7 errors, 5 of which led to Bartlett runs. The Hawks tied the game at 2 in the bottom of the first after 4 North Star errors. Haberstich reached base on an error and scored in the fourth. Tomazin ran home after a throwing error to give Bartlett a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the sixth.
But Bartlett had its own share of costly errors as well. A first-inning error put Rabin on base to open the game. Waslawski smacked a home run to center field to give North an early 2-0 lead.
The lead changed 6 times during the game, with Bartlett scoring in each of the first four innings. Burke hit a solo home run in the third inning which gave Bartlett a 4-3 lead after North had tied the game at 3 in the top of the inning.
Rabin pitched the first 3 innings for the North Stars, giving up 4 runs (1 earned) on 5 hits. Caliri (2-3) took the loss allowing 3 runs (2 earned) on 5 hits.
“We both kicked the ball around a little bit,” Hawks’ coach Jim Wolfsmith said. “We have to do a better job of cleaning up those errors. I was pleased with the effort at the plate, especially against Sabrina. She has been throwing the ball well.”