Batavia's Coleman baffles Geneva
Katie Coleman did a little bit of everything Wednesday afternoon.
The Batavia senior started the game at pitcher, reached base twice in 3 at-bats, and even retrieved a few foul balls that landed on the freshman field while her team was batting.
But what she did best happened on the mound, as she fired a 2-hitter to lift the Bulldogs (13-12, 5-8) to a 3-0 Upstate Eight Conference River Division softball victory over Geneva (11-12, 4-9) in Batavia.
Coleman turned in a dominant performance, striking out 7 while not issuing a walk during a lightning-quick, 75-minute contest.
"She pitched really well and our defense played really well behind her," Batavia coach Ashley Szymski said of Coleman. "There were pluses on both sides - her pitching and our defense."
Coleman, a right-hander, mowed through the Vikings' batting order the first time around, retiring 9 hitters in a row - 5 on strikeouts.
She only gave up a pair of harmless singles - to freshman Anna Geary leading off the fourth, and to Kelly Gordon with 1 out in the fifth. Other than that, Coleman was picture-perfect, allowing only 1 Viking runner to reach second base.
"Lauren (Mueller), my catcher, was working the ball all around the zone and mixing up pitches," said Coleman, who also took advantage of a fairly liberal strike zone established by the plate umpire.
"I don't know if he was being generous but he definitely was giving her the corners and that's always an advantage to the pitcher," said Szymski. "She definitely used that to her advantage."
"We were just going to work farther and farther (outside) to see what he would call and what he wouldn't call," said Coleman. "Each inning, we kept going farther and farther out."
Batavia staked Coleman to a 2-0 first-inning lead, as Ryanne Rokos slapped a double just inside the left-field line and took third on Katie Ryan's hard-hit single through the left side. Katie Neubauer drove in Rokos with the game's first run on a groundball to shortstop, and Ryan scored the second run a few moments later on an infield error.
"That ball Ryanne hit had some spin on it and rolled into foul territory down the line, making it harder to pick up," said Szymski.
Batavia added an insurance tally in the fifth, as Rokos reached on an infield hit and stole second and third before scoring on Neubauer's RBI single.
"I would have liked a little more run production but getting on top (early) sets a nice tone and she (Coleman) was in command on the mound," said Szymski.
Junior pitcher Natalie Erbe suffered the loss for the Vikings.
"Natalie pitched fine," said Geneva coach Greg Dierks. "We probably could have gotten out of that first inning a little better than we did but she pitched a good game. She has pitched a good game every time we've sent her out there.
"Three runs - you've got to sign up for that," added Dierks. "You've just got to go out and get some runs on your own."
Dierks also credited Coleman for her mound effort.
"We couldn't get anything going offensively," he said. "I thought there were some at-bats where our approach could have been better but she pitched well, and they didn't boot anything to give us anything for free."