Marengo deals Burlington Central slaughter-rule loss
Burlington Central softball coach Kyle Molik didn't mince his words Thursday after Marengo thumped the Rockets 18-5 in five innings in a Big Northern East matchup at Marengo that clinched no worse than a tie for the division title for the host Indians.
“That was embarrassing,” said Molik. “The pride, effort and focus weren't there. The girls are embarrassed.”
Neither team had its No. 1 pitcher available as BC junior Emily Kisch and Marengo sophomore Mariah Dionne were each held out of the circle due to nagging injuries. Both did play in the game and hope to be back pitching by postseason time.
“Not having Emily on the mound is not an excuse for anything,” Molik said. “We don't make excuses. We did not perform today. We made a couple errors and started hanging our heads. We didn't challenge ourselves and we didn't live up to our expectations today.”
After spotting the Rockets (12-11, 7-4) a run, Marengo (22-3, 11-0) put the game out of reach with an 8-run first inning. Jackie Pulak's 3-run home run was the big hit of the inning, a 12-at bat frame that saw the Indians get 5 hits and Burlington Central make 2 errors behind sophomore starter Ashley Ratliff.
Two more Central errors helped Marengo, which won its 33rd straight BN-East game, make it 11-1 after two innings. The Rockets did fight back in the top of the third as Kisch, Kristina Ahlers and Gretchen Schrubbe all singled ahead of senior Kassy Gaylord blasting a long grand slam home run to center field to make it 11-5.
But Marengo coach Dwain Nance then pulled starter Allison Jasinski and reliever Leah Secor allowed Central just 2 hits in her 3 full innings to earn the win. She struck out 4 and walked 1.
“Allison did a good job but we knew they'd get their hits,” said Nance. “Leah did a real nice job of keeping them off balance and we hit the ball well.”
That the Indians did. They tacked on 3 runs in the third, the big blow being a 2-run blast to right field that traveled about 235 feet off the bat of senior Illinois signee Veronica Reulius, her school record 15th homer of the season. She now has 61 RBI as well.
Reulius' homer was followed by a solo shot from Dionne off BC reliever Courtni Neubauer.
The Indians added 4 more runs in the fourth inning and Secor's final strikeout for the third out ended the game on the slaughter rule, something that has happened to the Rockets only twice in the last three seasons.
Senior catcher Jessica Turner had 3 hits for Marengo, as did Dionne. The Indians had 14 hits in the game.
Schrubbe had 2 hits for the Rockets.
“It's not two weeks from now,” said Molik, referring to the postseason. “We have time to make the corrections we need to make. We just have to get back to practice and work hard.”