Dorjath, Nelson help Batavia blast Sandwich

Sitting down doesn't come easy for Emily Dorjath. The Batavia junior wants to be behind the plate every game.

Her coach Leon Pedraza gave Dorjath a day off from catching Thursday at Sandwich, but he made certain to keep her bat in the lineup. Dorjath continued her red-hot start to the season with three run-scoring doubles in Batavia's 9-1 victory.

"It's really hard for me to watch a game from the dugout," said Dorjath, who served as Batavia's designated player. "It's nice I can at least hit but I would much rather be behind the plate. I just feel so at home back there."

Dorjath, who went 4-for-4 Thursday after homering in her last game against East Aurora, drove home Christine Lynam in both the first and third innings to give Batavia a 2-0 lead it held until the seventh inning.

"We cannot take Emily's bat out of the lineup," Pedraza said. "She has been on fire, she has been fantastic. Outstanding hitting by Emily. She is hitting it where it is pitched. If it is outside she takes it outside. That is what a good hitter does."

Dorjath credited playing with the Illinois Bash travel team for helping her get off to a sizzling start this spring.

"I've been seeing the ball really well lately," Dorjath said. "I hit a lot in the off-season. Coming into the high school season I was just ready to go."

The Bulldogs broke the game with seven runs in the seventh inning. The rally included a rarity - three inside-the-park home runs by Katie Neubauer, Lindsay McEachern and Katie Luetkens in a stretch of four batters.

"I told the girls you hit the ball out there, with the wind, it keeps going and going," Pedraza said. "It was harder fielding in the outfield today than the infield."

Lynam filled in at catcher and was on the receiving end of Brooke Nelson's second career no-hitter. Nelson struck out four and walked two to pick up her first win.

"She needed that, she needed a complete game," Pedraza said. "She needed that for her confidence. We haven't played really crisp defensively behind her. We still had three errors today, that is not good, that is an extra inning of hitting. We still have to tighten that up especially with conference play starting next Tuesday against Yorkville."

Nelson was worried she wouldn't get that complete game when Sandwich loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh.

"I saw them warming up (Katie) Coleman and I thought, 'Oh, I better get my act together,'" Nelson said.

She did. After a pair of walks and an error, freshman second baseman Sami Villarreal helped limit the damage with a nifty double play when she tagged a runner going for second and then threw to first. Nelson retired the final matter on a comebacker to complete the no-hitter.

"Last year I had one and didn't know about that one either," Nelson said of her no-hitter. "It's exciting I guess.

"Christine was doing a really good job working in all my pitches. My drop curve was working pretty good. Change-up was kind of iffy because of the wind bringing it up."

Batavia improved to 3-2 with its third straight win. The Bulldogs return to action Saturday with a doubleheader at Morris.