Softball: Prairie Ridge downs Bartlett

Bartlett softball coach Jim Wolfsmith just needed to glance at the left on base and error statistics to figure out why his Hawks dropped a 5-3 decision to host Prairie Ridge in a nonconference game held in Crystal Lake Saturday morning. The game was played in a persistent rain.

The Hawks stranded 9 runners and committed 4 costly errors.

"I thought we had very good at bats but we just didn't capitalize on all our opportunities in the game," said Wolfsmith. "Our errors and baserunning mistakes really hurt us. You just can't make mistakes against a quality team like Prairie Ridge."

Bartlett (12-7) broke a scoreless tie with a run in the top of the third on a run-scoring single by Elyse Hickey.

The Wolves (15-3) tied the game in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Haley Barnes.

The Hawks scored their final runs of the game off PR's Illinois-bound pitcher Hailey Baker in the fourth on a 2-run homer by Taylor Rotondo. Amber Pagan, who doubled to lead off the inning, scored on Rotondo's round-tripper to give Bartlett a 3-1 advantage.

Prairie Ridge erased Bartlett's 2-run lead in the bottom of the inning with 2 runs on an RBI single by Alexandra Johnson and a bases-loaded walk to pinch hitter by Kylie Schremp to tie the score at 3.

The Wolves grabbed the lead in the fifth on an RBI single by Emelia Farnum and tallied an insurance run in the sixth on a run-scoring single by Baker.

Baker, the complete game winner for the Wolves, struck out 6 and walked 3 while allowing 3 runs and scattering 10 hits.

"Hailey pitched a great game against a very good offensive team in Bartlett," said PR coach Mike Buck. "She wiggled out of a lot of jams and was tough when she had to be.''

Bartlett was led offensively by Hickey (RBI), Alyssa Nowak and Rotondo, who had 2 hits apiece.

Leadoff hitter Maddie Schillinger (2 runs, 2B, SB) and Kaileigh O' Brien tallied 2 hits apiece for PR, which collected 8 hits.

"We have really swung the bats well all season from 1 through 9 in the lineup," said Buck. "Today we had good at bats against the Bartlett pitchers. We hit the ball hard and our situational hitting was very good. It was a very good win against a quality Bartlett team."