Prairie Ridge outlasts Jacobs
In a closely contested game, any mistake can be costly.
Jacobs found that out the hard way.
Hindered by baserunning mistakes and shoddy defense, the Golden Eagles couldn't overcome their miscues in a 3-1 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division softball loss to Prairie Ridge in Algonquin Monday afternoon.
With the score tied at 1 after six innings, the Wolves (8-4, 3-0) won the game with 2 runs in the seventh.
Sammi Chapnick, batting for Michelle O' Keefe, led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a single by Maddie Drain.
The next hitter, Sammy Hempen, executed the perfect safety squeeze bunt to score Chapnick with what turned out to be the winning run. PR scored an insurance run on a Jacobs error.
"In a close game little mistakes will cost you like it did today," said Jacobs coach Jeremy Bauer. "We had some communication problems in the seventh and had too many base running mistakes."
In the bottom of the seventh, No. 9 hitter Taylor Belo stroked a single with two outs. But winning pitcher, freshman Hailey Baker, induced leadoff hitter Sarah Murray to ground out to end the game.
"This was probably Hailey's best game of the season," said PR coach Mike Buck. "She had all her pitches working and was tough when she had to be. Offensively, we executed the little things in the seventh and that is how you win close games. This is a huge conference win on the road."
Baker picked up the complete-game win, giving up 1 run on 5 hits. The first-year varsity hurler struck out four, walked one and hit a batter.
Kelsey Peters was the hard-luck loser for the Golden Eagles (11-5, 1-2). She allowed 3 runs on 6 hits while striking out four without allowing a walk.
'Kelsey pitched a great game and deserved better," said Bauer. "She had all her pitches working but we couldn't make the plays behind her."
PR scored first in the top of the second on a long solo homer by Drain which easily cleared the center field fence. Jacobs scored its only run of the game in the bottom of the second on an RBI single by Katie Borchert.
During the final five innings, Baker blanked the Eagles on 3 singles.