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‘Too much Steinbach’
Updated: June 6, 2011 10:38PM
MONTICELLO — Taylor Horn started running back to the dugout after she swung at the second strike thrown by Nikki Steinbach in the sixth inning.
Steinbach had broken their collective psyche by that point. Even if they weren’t struck out already, they were likely to.
Steinbach was, in two words, near flawless Monday in Andrean’s 4-0 victory over Mississinewa in the Twin Lakes Semistate final.
Steinbach threw a no-hitter — and, yes, Horn might as well have gone to the dugout after that second strike. That turned out to be just one of 16 strikeouts for the Andrean junior. Steinbach was mowing down hitters like they were an overgrown patch of grass that needed to be cut badly. One pitch — a sailing drop ball that elevated instead — away from a perfect game. The ball hit Karlie Feller, the No. 3 batter for the Indians, in the shoulder with two outs in the seventh.
After the ball hit Feller, Steinbach cracked a small smile and then struck out Jennifer McCoin to finish the game.
She wanted the perfect game. Not badly — just enough that she knew what the misbehaving drop ball cost her.
“I got a little excited and just let it slip,” she said.
Didn’t matter. Steinbach was still brilliant even if she just thought it was another game.
Not one Mississinewa batter hit a ball out of the infield. There were two ground outs to shortstop, a pop out to shortstop and a lazy second-to-first putout. The game took just over 90 minutes.
Steve Miller, the Mississinewa manager, knew the deal. His pitcher, Ashlea Nash, was pretty good, striking out 11 and not giving up a run until Kaitlin Barajas nicked for her for a two-run home run to center in the sixth. Nash wasn’t nearly as good as Steinbach.
“Too much Steinbach tonight,” Miller said.
It took a couple of times through the order but the 59ers finally figured out how to get the fat of the bat on the ball against Nash.
She was working the outside corner consistently.
The third time Barajas came up — she had struck out and popped up to second in her first two at bats — she took a step closer to the plate. She jumped one of those outside hard pitches and drove it like rocket over the centerfield fence into a flagpole.
Barajas was running so fast around the bases that it seemed like it took her just about two seconds to touch home plate. She certainly understood the enormity of the hit.
The way Steinbach was pitching, the 59ers knew they were golden.
Barajas was too overwhelmed after the game, she didn’t know what to say. The last time the 59ers went to Indianapolis for the state finals was 2009.
“I have so many emotions,” she said. “It’s just too overwhelming.”
For Andrean coach Henry Ryan, getting downstate is a big deal. Andrean lost last year to Fort Wayne Dwenger at semistate and he’s been pushing ever since to get them back to the final game.
Mission accomplished.
“This was our whole focus,” he said.
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