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Batavia uses power hitting to sweep Blackhawks
Updated: May 7, 2011 7:26PM
Batavia displayed the kind of power hitting that can negate good pitching or even solid fundamental defense in sweeping Saturday’s non-conference doubleheader at West Aurora.
Katie Ryan led the way in game one with a pair of home runs for a come-from-behind 7-2 victory, while Christine Lynam’s homer fueled a 5-0 triumph in Game 2. In addition to improving to 16-5 on the year, the trio of round-trippers moves Batavia at least into a tie for seventh on the IHSA’s list for most home runs in a single season with 32. The twin-killing dropped the Blackhawks to 5-19.
“When they want to play, they can be a fantastic team, but like any team, we can have our days,” Batavia coach Ashley Szymski said. “We started off a little down today, but then they brought their level of play up.”
That lethargic start enabled West Aurora to use a bottom-of-the-first walk, a couple bunts and a sacrifice to push home a pair of runs for an early 2-0 lead.
“I’m always trying to get a hit, draw a walk or whatever to get us started right,” said Lari Mitchell, who walked before ultimately scoring the Blackhawks’ first run.
Ryan led off the third with a solo blast over the left field fence and then came back in the fifth with a two-run shot to left-center that was the catalyst for a five-run inning that featured six of the Bulldogs’ 10 hits in the opener as Katie Neubauer increased her pitching mark to 6-3.
“I was seeing the pitches pretty clearly and I got a hold of the right ones, but at first I was thinking each was going to be caught,” Ryan said. “Seeing them clear the fence felt really good.”
That was in contrast to how Neubauer viewed her effort in the pitching circle.
“Actually, I wasn’t too pleased with what I did, but my team picked me up,” Neubauer said. “It’s a real good feeling knowing you’ve got a solid defense supporting you, plus I was confident the offense would eventually pull through as well.”
Batavia’s production in game two was immediate as Ryan singled to center, took second on an error and came home on a Neubauer single to right. Nelson’s double brought Neubauer home for a 2-0 lead that was protected by pitcher Meghan Fabian and the Bulldog defense. West Aurora had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the opening frame, but Fabian induced a pair of pop-outs and also got out of the second inning leaving a Blackhawk runner stranded at third.
“That’s unfortunately been the story of our season,” West Aurora coach Sara Nagy said. “We’ve left a ridiculous number of runners on base or in scoring position. We just can’t get that one hit, that squib, or the one error from the other team to get us a big inning. On the other side, we’ll have an inning in which a couple errors always lead to a couple runs and after we dig out of that jam, we settle down. We just have to stay positive and continue playing hard. We’re pretty young so I’m trying to get them to understand that the term ‘can’t’ is a
four-letter word; they have to stay positive and believe in themselves.”
Getting Batavia to believe the two-run lead wasn’t enough, Szymski implored her team to find some more offense and the Bulldogs did just that in the top of the fifth. Ryan had a single to right and scored on a Neubauer RBI single before Lynam cranked a two-run shot for Batavia’s 32nd home run of the season.
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