MADISON TOWNSHIP —
When athletes face sudden changes, coaches are often times unsure of how their players are going to adapt to the new circumstances.
Monday, Geneva coach Eleshia Pitcher got a first-hand look at seeing her Eagles overcome a change to their itinerary as they were forced to travel west to play a “home” game against their neighborhood rival, the Madison Blue Streaks.
Because of a couple of heavy downpours earlier in the day, the venue for the game changed but it certainly did not change the Eagles’ resolve as they seemed focused again on their opponent and got another dominant pitching performance from Amy Pitcher, propelling Geneva to a 9-0 win over the Blue Streaks.
Coach Pitcher was pleased with her team’s third straight win.
“The girls are playing well,” she said. “The hitters put the ball in play when it was needed and the fielders are doing their jobs.”
After Madison’s quick first inning at the plate, where Pitcher registered two of her 12 strikeouts, her teammates wasted no time in taking the lead. Leadoff hitter Monica Scharf reached safely in her first trip to the plate and then advanced to third on a bunt single by Pitcher.
With two on and one out, cleanup hitter Sonya Leishman doubled, staking Geneva to an early 2-0 lead. One of Madison’s best chances to score came in the the top of the second when Jess Simko tried to help her own cause on the mound, by leading off with a single and moving to second on a walk. However, Pitcher responded and recorded two more strikeouts to snuff the potential rally.
Geneva scored two more runs in the bottom of the second. With runners on second and third and two outs, Pitcher helped herself out by sharply hitting the ball to Madison’s shortstop, Abby Thompson (3 hits), who threw to first. The ball was not handled cleanly at first and both Scharf and Becky Depp (3 hits) both scored, making it 4-0.
The Eagles (10-4, 5-2 PAC) then saw their lead blossom to 6-0 after Leishman scored on a Nicole Grimmett (2 hits, 2 RBI) single and Becky Depp knocked in another run in the inning, giving them a great deal of breathing room.
After Geneva was held scoreless in the bottom of the fourth, Madison (3-12, 1-6 PAC) tried to mount one more threat in the top of the fifth. The Blue Streaks had runners on first and second with one out but Pitcher got a strikeout and groundout of the three and four hitters in the opposing lineup to quell any chances of a comeback. The Eagles then tacked on a single run (Kim Brumagin RBI) in the fifth and two more runs in its half of the sixth to give them their final margin of victory.
As the month of April concludes, teams move into May with some goals to focus on, in some cases, looking to compete for a league title and wanting to play some meaningful games.
Geneva has that opportunity and Pitcher is fully aware of what awaits her team.
“Amy did a good job,” the coach said. “We have two good pitchers with her and Kristen Schupska. We have some big PAC games coming up this week (North and Chardon) and we need them to keep doing well.”
DiPofi is a freelance writer from Geneva.
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