Hawks Softball Defeats Colonels, 6-2

Posted: May 10, 2013
By GREG BRILL
Special to The Winchester Star

FRONT ROYAL — When she stepped back into the batter’s box, Skyline senior Emily Ritter was determined to make better on her next bunt attempt to get the go-ahead run in.

A little advice from her coach, Frank Nelson, helped her confidence and Ritter’s successful squeeze bunt up the first-base side scored classmate Allison Funk in the sixth inning on Thursday night and sparked a four-run rally that gave the Hawks a 6-2 win over James Wood and the Northwestern District regular-season title to boot.

“[Nelson] told me ‘Don’t push at it,’” Ritter said of what she heard between pitches in her sixth-inning at bat. “The second pitch I saw, my only goal was to get [the bunt] down the line so Allison could score.”

Skyline (14-4, 9-1 Northwestern) clinched its second straight district regular-season crown and won its 11th straight game on Senior Night. The Hawks last lost on April 6 to host Central in its tournament, and they wanted to make sure that everything came together at just the right time in their final regular season home game.

Though they have only three seniors this year, the Hawks received solid contributions from each one in their latest win. To no one’s surprise, veteran pitcher Sara Beamer (six-hitter, no walks, one earned run, four strikeouts) was her dominant self within the circle. Funk (2 for 3, run, RBI) had a few clutch hits, and Ritter had a pair of sacrifice bunts batting eighth in the lineup.

“That was really important to us — to win tonight,” said Ritter, who will get to play home games again when Skyline hosts the district playoffs, beginning next week, and also a Region II quarterfinal in three weeks. “That was our goal from the get-go. We wanted to come out to do our best and we didn’t want to hold back.

“The girls are playing really well and I think everyone’s stepping up like they need to. We had some key hits tonight and everyone worked together.”

The only district setback suffered this season by Skyline came the last time James Wood (6-11, 5-5) paid a visit, a 14-3 thrashing in a game Beamer (on a college visit) did not play in.

James Wood did not go with top pitcher Kierstyn Peacoe on Thursday, as Colonels coach Ted McDaniel has decided to go with a two-pitcher rotation to help Peacoe rest her right shoulder more. That said, the Colonels ran Tori Armel out to face the Hawks, and the sophomore held her own during long stretches.

Armel did a good job of getting Skyline to get under her pitches and hit pop-outs early on. Armel took a 1-0 lead to the bottom of the fourth and did not give up a run until Funk singled to center to drive in Beamer (who had reached on a single) with two outs in the fourth to tie the game for the first time.

Through four innings, the Colonels did a good job backing up Armel. But two errors in the fifth allowed Skyline to take a 2-1 lead. Mikala Dawkins reached on an error at shortstop leading off, then an error at third on Ritter’s first bunt had two aboard with no outs. Armel (six innings, seven hits allowed, one walk, three strikeouts) buckled down to retire the next two batters before Hannah Ritter blooped a fly into shallow right field.

Giving chase, Peacoe just missed making a diving catch, and Dawkins came around to score the go-ahead run.

Peacoe (1 for 3, run scored) had opened the scoring with her seeing-eye double to right-center field, stolen base, and throwing error to the bag at third to give the Colonels a 1-0 lead in the fourth.

In the sixth, the Colonels tied it up at 2-2 when Jessy Shipman (1 for 3, run scored) lined a solid double over Emily Ritter’s head in left leading off, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Haley Whitacre, then scored on a one-out wild pitch. Rachael Largent singled with two outs and moved to second when her hit got by for a one-base error, but Beamer got out of trouble by striking out Whitney Dick.

Looking to avoid extra innings, Skyline took advantage of a little indecision by James Wood in the bottom of the sixth and ran with it.

After she reached on a one-out single, Funk was safe at second when she beat the throw to the bag on an attempted force off a grounder hit by Sam Santmyers. Dawkins hit another grounder to the left side, but the throw to third for the force there was dropped for an error.

With the bases loaded, it was Emily Ritter’s chance to come through. And, she did, bunting an 0-1 pitch that plated Funk.

Skyline then broke it open by scoring three runs with two outs. Batting ninth, Carrie Robinson (2 for 3, run scored) got her second triple of the game when her liner to the outfield just got over the glove of James Wood’s leaping center fielder and dropped for a two-run hit.

“Robinson had, what, two triples down there,” Nelson said of his ability to get production at the end of the lineup. “She drove some runs in there. I think a key too was when Robinson was down 0-2 and worked the count to 3-2 and then hit the triple. That’s a [back] breaker. That will break the back of a lot of teams, and I just think we were fortunate enough this time. Sometimes, we roll out.”

A single to center by Michala Craig to center plated Robinson and made it 6-2. Armel finally got out of it with a pop-out, but the damage was done.

“We got back to doing what we do best and that is manufacture runs,” Nelson said. “We bunt and make teams make mistakes. We’re fast enough, and with Emily [with the squeeze bunt] — everyone knew it was coming.”

Because of four James Wood errors and some breakdowns on other balls hit in the infield, five of Skyline’s six runs were of the unearned variety.

“I told my team that I was proud of them and how they competed against the best pitcher in the district and that we were [right with them],” McDaniel said. “We went with our No. 2 [Armel], and that’s probably the best she’s pitched all year. She kept them off-balance and if it wouldn’t have been for all the errors, I don’t think [Skyline] would have scored.

“It comes down to you’ve got to make the plays to win the game. When we needed it the most, we didn’t do it.”

Taylor Rizzari added two hits in the loss for James Wood, which will host Millbrook tonight in a make-up game. McDaniel said Peacoe would be ready to pitch for the game with the Pioneers.