Gaylord, Harnish lead Burlington C. to 10th straight win
Brooke Gaylord was in and out of so many jams Wednesday, she might as well be called Smuckers.
But the Burlington Central junior pitcher worked out of almost all of them, leading the Rockets to a 7-1 win against Genoa-Kingston in a Big Northern East softball game in Genoa.
Bekah Harnish, in addition to calling the game behind the plate, had 4 hits and 2 RBI for the Rockets. Gaylord also hit a home run and a double, and Emily Kisch had 2 hits as the Rockets improved to 13-1 and 5-0 in the conference with their 10th straight win.
“I was seeing the ball well, and I got a lot of inside pitches, which is what I like,” said Harnish.
The Rockets broke open a tight game by scoring 5 times in the seventh. Doubles by Gaylord and Courtni Neubauer and a triple by Kisch were the big hits. Central also took advantage of 3 G-K errors in the inning.
The Cogs, who lost to BC 6-5 in nine innings on April 9, had runners on base all afternoon, but couldn’t buy a clutch hit. They left the bases loaded in the first and fourth innings and 2 on in the third. Harnish also threw out 2 runners trying to steal.
Genoa finally got on the board when starting pitcher Danielle Engel led off the seventh inning with a triple and scored on Natalie Klein’s groundout.
“That score is a little bit misleading,” said Burlington coach Wade Maisto. “It was anybody’s game up until that last inning. Brooke battled nicely out there. We made some nice adjustments and plays.”
Gaylord’s shot over the fence in left-center field was the game’s only run for the first four innings. Harnish doubled in Kayla Ross with an insurance run in the fifth and Gaylord made them stand up.
The Cogs loaded the bases after 2 were out in the first, but Gaylord retired Kailyn Cygan to end the threat. The Cogs loaded the bags with one out in the fourth, but Gaylord got Engel on a popup and got Klein looking. Genoa put 2 more runners on in the fifth, but a caught-stealing helped the Rockets get out of the inning without a run.