Youngsville built a lead and held off a sixth-inning Villa Maria rally, ending a two-game losing streak with a 7-6 victory over the Villa Maria Victors Saturday at Youngsville High School.
One of the key factors in the Youngsville win was the team committing just two errors. In losses to Northwestern and Iroquois on Thursday and Friday, respectively, the Eagles committed a total of 15 errors and dropped to 3-3 on the season.
Saturday's win pushed the team back above the .500 mark and was sparked by some early offensive firepower as the hosts scored five runs in the opening two innings and led 7-4 by the time the fourth inning was completed.
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Times Observer photo by Jonathan McAfoos
If at first
Eisenhower’s Kristen Williams pushes off first during Saturday’s Region 4 game against General McLane at Eisenhower High School.
"It was too close for comfort," said Youngsville coach Mark Nyquist, whose Eagles are 4-3 overall and 3-3 in Region 4. Villa falls to 2-4, 2-4. "A win is a win, but it shouldn't have been that close."
Trailing 2-0 in the first after a two-run single by Villa's Katie Leuschen, Youngsville struck back.
Amber Fox had a two-run triple in the first to tie the game.
Later in the game, with the score 6-4 Youngsville, Kennedy Cratty knocked in her second run of the game to make it 7-4, and Youngsville would hold on after giving up two runs in the sixth.
The Eagles finished with 11 hits, including two hits each from catcher Colleen Rex, Fox and centerfielder Jessica Jameson. Kennedy Cratty, Elise Dunn, Katie Gustafson, Judi Lewis and Karissa Cratty all helped the solid team effort with one hit each. Gustafson and Fox both had triples.
Fox was also the winning pitcher, striking out seven, while walking four, in seven innings of action.
Youngsville visits North East on Tuesday.
VILLA MARIA (6): Schlosser, ss, 4-2-2-1, Colish, 2b, 3-0-1-0, Leuschen, p, 3-1-1-2, Graml, cf, 4-1-2-1, Colp, 3b, 4-0-1-1, Coleman, lf, 3-0-0-0, McCall, dp, 4-1-1-0, M. Chido, rf, 2-0-0-0, Nawrocki, c, 4-1-1-0, Totals: 31-6-9-5
YOUNGSVILLE (7): Rex, c, 4-1-2-1, Ke. Cratty, ss, 4-2-1-2, Fox, p, 3-1-2-2, S. Anderson, 3b, 3-0-0-1, Dunn, 1b, 3-0-1-1, Gustafson, 3b, 2-0-1-0, K. Anderson, 2b, 1-0-0-0, Lewis, rf, 3-0-1-0, Jameson, cf, 3-2-2-0, Ka. Cratty, lf, 3-1-1-0, Totals: 29-7-11-2
Villa Maria 211 002 0 - 6 8 3
Youngsville 230 200 x - 7 11 2
2b-Graml (V). 3b-Fox (Y), Gustafson (Y). WP-Fox. LP-Leuschen.
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General McLane 9, Eisenhower 6
In a back-and-forth battle, Eisenhower came up short on Saturday, falling to General McLane, 9-6, at Eisenhower High School.
The Lancers wasted no time in jumping all over the Knights and starting pitcher Natasha Morrison, scoring three quick runs in the first. The Knights immediately provided an answer with four runs in the bottom half of the inning. Haylie Birt recorded the big hit of the inning, crushing a double to deep left. Birt later raced home on a passed ball.
After falling behind 6-5, the Knights rallied to tie the game again in the third thanks to a Kristen Williams' RBI single. Despite threatening to score again, the Knights were unable to push any more runs across, and three more Lancer runs in the middle innings sealed the deal.
"We battled again," said Eisenhower head coach R.J. Williams. "We were knocking on the door, we just have to execute better. We made a lot of mistakes, but that's part of learning."
The Lancers (2-4) were led by Beth Warner, who earned the win and gave herself some run support with a two-run home run in the third, as well as a two-run single down the third base line in the 6th. Morrison took the loss for the Knights.
Eisenhower (0-7) will look for its first win when they travel to Iroquois on Tuesday.
GENERAL MCLANE (9): ab-r-h-rbi Elder, lf 5-1-4-1, Suprynowicz, ss 4-1-2-0, Cross, dp 1-0-0-0, Lindsey, dp 3-0-0-0, Wreh-Wilson, 3b 4-3-3-2, Rupp, cf 4-2-3-1, Teribery, 1b 4-0-1-1, Kightlinger, p 1-0-1-0, Warner, p 3-1-2-4, Leveto, 2b 4-0-0-0, Schaefer, rf 4-1-2-0. Totals 37-9-18-9
EISENHOWER (6): Repke, 1b 5-1-2-1, K. Williams, cf 3-1-2-1, Birt, 3b 4-2-2-2, Maine, lf 4-0-0-1, Stanton, c 3-1-0-0, Byrd, ss 4-0-0-0, D. Williams, 2b 2-1-1-0, Barnett, rf 3-0-0-0, Schwanke, dp 3-0-1-1. Totals 31-6-8-6
General McLane 303 102 0 - 9 18 2
Eisenhower 411 000 0 - 6 8 5
2b-Wreh Wilson (G), Birt (E). 3b-Suprynowicz (G). HR-Warner (G). WP-Warner. LP-Morrison.