Geneva’s balanced attack beats St. Francis
Fielding a lineup without any easy outs is an advantage for any softball team, which Geneva proved Wednesday at a most opportune time.
As soon as St. Francis broke a 1-1 tie with 2 runs in the fifth inning, the Vikings sent 10 batters to plate with seven different players collecting hits in a 5-run outburst that was the difference in their 6-3 victory.
Geneva (2-1) pounded out 14 hits in the game. Winning pitcher Kelly McCaffey and third baseman Kirsten Searcy both had 3.
“Our bottom of our order is really strong as well as the top of our order,” said Searcy, who delivered the tiebreaking 2-run single.
“When we got in the dugout we were we a lot more energetic, everybody was up and ready to do it.”
McCaffey, Geneva’s seventh hitter, started the rally with a single. No. 9 hitter Sarah Laster, who made a diving catch to end the fifth inning, ripped an RBI double to make it a 3-2 game.
Bridget Witzel’s RBI single tied the game. Dori Rogers and Elena Wright singled to the load the bases, setting the stage for Searcy to take a 2-0 pitch back up the middle to score 2 runs and give Geneva its first lead of the game, 5-3.
Taylor Medernach added an insurance run with an RBI single, the seventh Geneva player with a hit in the rally.
“We had good production throughout,” Geneva coach Greg Dierks said. “We have a lot of confidence throughout our batting order.
“Sarah Laster woke us up to start the rally. I thought the mental response (from behind down 3-1) was great.”
Geneva’s rally made a winner of McCaffrey, who allowed 6 hits in her complete game but also walked seven batters. Three of those walks went to No. 3 hitter Bri Pasquale, who beat Geneva in extra innings last year with a home run as part of her .564 season.
St. Francis (1-2) left 10 runners on base, seven in scoring position.
“Probably the one thing I’d like to improve on is we haven’t been coming through with the big hit when we need it,” St. Francis coach Ralph Remus said. “But it’s early in the season. It was a good, clean game. We just have to get a couple more hits.”
Paige Davis got St. Francis off to a good start with a line shot home run to left leading off the bottom of the first. Geneva tied the game in the second when Searcy doubled and scored on McCaffey’s rocket that hit off the left field fence.
The game stayed tied until the fifth. St. Francis threw out a runner at the plate to keep Geneva off the board in the fourth while McCaffey came up with the big outs when she needed them.
“I was having a hard time throwing strikes in some innings,” McCaffey said. “My team really encouraged me and helped me and made me calm down a little more. My team talked to me and did a nice job defensively. It was nice to know they were there.”
St. Francis grabbed a 3-1 lead in the fifth. A pair of walks and a single loaded the bases, and Emily Karpinski brought home two runs with a double to the fence in right-center.
Taylor Ronchetto took the loss for St. Francis. Davis led the offense with 2 hits.
“I’m disappointed we lost but thought we played a good game,” Remus said. “They just hit us that one inning.”
Dierks also praised his team’s error-free defense. Through three games Geneva has made just 1 throwing error.
Geneva will try to continue that strong play the next two days against Wheaton North and Jacobs.
“The next two teams we play will really test us,” Dierks said. “We have a lot of respect for both teams.”