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Softball: Geneva holds upper hand on archrival

As the coach of the Geneva softball team, Greg Dierks dutifully mans the score book while maintaining his duties along the third-base line.

Dierks had to be pleased to the bone in the Vikings' fourth inning against archrival Batavia in a DuKane Conference game on Monday.

In successive at-bats with one out, Alyssa Kramer, Sydney Erdmann and Sydney Haake all went the opposite way with base hits.

The classic at-bats bore fruit as the Vikings would add to their 1-0 lead with another pair of runs.

But the ultimate outcome between the century-plus-long rivals is still in doubt as lightning disrupted the game in the bottom of the fifth inning with Geneva leading 4-1.

"It is a suspended game," Dierks said. "There is no makeup date."

The first 12 batters of the game took immediate detours to their respective dugouts.

Bella Walton had the first hit of the game - a single up the middle - to lead off the Vikings' third inning.

The Geneva sophomore was sacrificed by Kramer to second and was sitting on third following a wild pitch.

With the Batavia defense playing at its customary depth, Geneva starting pitcher Shelly Deisz had perhaps her easiest run batted in on the season with a simple grounder to second base.

In the Vikings' fourth, Kramer scored all the way from first to double the lead when a Batavia outfielder muffed the single by the southpaw-batting Erdmann.

Walton had yet another room-service RBI with a groundout to second to score Erdmann.

Deisz retired the first 10 Batavia batters she faced.

Alex Klein singled with one out in the Batavia fourth inning to end the streak.

The Bulldogs' sophomore was perched on second when Allison Bahlmann - maintaining the theme of the game - singled to the right side of second base for the lone Batavia run.

"I was trying to hit where the pitcher pitched," Bahlmann said. "I always get pumped up (against Geneva). I have some friends on the team. There is a lot of hype. It is fun to compete with them."

Geneva restored its 3-run lead in the top of the fifth when Deisz came home on a Kramer single.

It was the second hit of the game for both Geneva girls.

The state-mandated rule of waiting 30 minutes when lightning is visible was invoked in the Batavia fifth at-bat.

Torry Pryor, a longtime assistant, is in his first year as the Bulldogs' coach.

Batavia entered the game with a 6-10 record after dropping its only two league games.

"We are young and we are learning," Pryor said. "It is a learning experience. We only have a few upperclassmen."

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