Eastlake softball capitalizes on Skyline mistakes
April 21, 2009
By Christopher Huber
The game was tied at three in the bottom of the seventh.
With no outs and runners at the corners, all Eastlake senior Laura Bachman had to do was put the ball in play.
The pitch came from Skyline’s Ashley Smiley and Bachman laid down a ground ball to first base. The firstbaseman couldn’t scoop it up in time. Safe.
Skyline’s Elizabeth Stromquist delivers a pitch April 15. Photo by Christopher Huber
That gave Eastlake’s Jena Eggleston time to score the winning run from third.
The Lady Wolves beat Skyline 4-3 in just their third conference game of the season April 15.
“It feels really good. That was really exciting,” Bachman said after the game.
The victory gave Eastlake (2-1 KingCo Crest, 3-4 overall) some much-needed momentum at the mid-point of the season.
Skyline racked up nine hits off Eastlake’s starter Nicole Guptil, but couldn’t put together enough runs. On defense, numerous pitching and fielding miscues by the Spartans led to Eastlake runs.
“Thank goodness we did (capitalize) or we wouldn’t have had any runs,” Eastlake head coach Al Leaverenz said. “It was nice to get a win. They needed to get a win.”
The Lady Wolves got out to an early 3-0 lead after Skyline starting pitcher Elizabeth Stromquist struggled with ball control.
Eastlake’s Alexis Esser and Brook Jaeger each scored on wild pitches before Smiley came in as relief in the third.
“I was very impressed with Eastlake’s execution,” Skyline assistant coach Jeff Johnson said. “They didn’t make mistakes and we made too many mistakes.”
Skyline rallied for two runs in the fifth inning. Sophomore Anya Kamber roped a pitch back up the middle to score speedster Dominique Randle. With one out and runners in scoring position, Amanda Nemiroff drove in Lindsey Nicholson on a shot into right field.
Guptil showed command throughout the entire game and struck out batters when it mattered most.
“She pitched really well,” Bachman said. She knew what the umpire was calling so she threw exactly where he was calling it. She’s been pitching really consistently.”
Despite Eastlake’s Guptil striking out 10 batters, the Lady Spartans managed to tie the game in the seventh.
But in the Eastlake half of the inning, an overthrow to first advanced Eggleston to third base and set up the winning run for Bachman.
“This is a tough loss,” Johnson said. “Eastlake came out and executed really, really well, and I hope we learn from that.”
Reporter Christopher Huber can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 242, or chuber@isspress.com. Comment on this story at www.sammamishreview.com.
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