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Neuqua Valley turns back Metea Valley
Updated: May 4, 2011 11:58PM
A 7-0 score usually isn’t indicative of a pitchers’ duel but Wednesday’s Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division contest certainly had elements of one.
Host Neuqua Valley scored timely runs in the first and fifth innings, but did none of its damage outside of those frames. Despite taking the loss, Alexa Caputo (2-4) set down 13 straight Wildcats (10-4, 5-3) from the first through the fifth and Stephanie Bova twirled two perfect innings in relief.
Winning pitcher Jena Boudreau (6-4) hurled a complete-game shutout, allowing only three hits and two walks. She struck out two, twice turned line drives into double plays, and also had a key RBI in her team’s fifth-inning rally.
“She really stepped up as a junior last year on our team and this year she’s been doing a great job for us, just keeping us in games and keeping the hitters off balance,” Neuqua Valley coach Melissa Wilson said. “I’m really proud of the pitcher that she has become and she’s one of the key parts of our team.”
Wilson credits the chemistry Boudreau and catcher Rebecca Lincoln have forged in their time working together since last season.
Boudreau’s off-speed pitches flummoxed the Mustangs.
“My curveball was my go-to pitch and my changeup,” Boudreau said. “Those were my two that were working really well for me today.”
Wildcats first baseman Leigh Nebendahl (2-for-3 with four RBI) drove in Neuqua Valley’s first run in the first and Brooke Meyer followed with a two-run single.
The game stayed at 3-0 until the fifth, when Kat Widup snapped Caputo’s string of consecutive hitters retired with a single. Amanda Mener then was hit by a pitch and Boudreau stroked an RBI single. Nebendahl cracked a three-run home run to break the game open and cap the scoring.
She waited on an outside pitch and went with it to right-center for her third homer this season.
“It felt really good, because yesterday we didn’t play as well as we have today and to come back from the loss yesterday was a really great thing to do,” Nebendahl said.
For Metea Valley (7-7, 5-5), the game marked a maddening turn of events in less than 24 hours. The Mustangs beat Waubonsie Valley 10-4 Tuesday and, prior to their matchup with the Warriors, had scored 45 runs over a six-game stretch.
“We have to know that Leigh Nebendahl is the best hitter in their lineup,” Metea Valley coach Kris Kalivas said. “Both times, we had her at 0-2 and 1-2 counts, and we gave her pitches that were hittable. That can’t happen.”
Offensively, Kalivas said the team wasn’t selective enough.
“I thought that we were swinging at pitches that she wanted us to swing at and not being aggressive on ones that we knew we could drive,” she noted.
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