Published: May 12, 2008 10:56 pm            

GIRLS SOFTBALL: Lady Rams rebound to beat Barker, 9-7

MIDDLEPORT — The Royalton-Hartland Lady Rams erased a 6-0 Barker lead with good defense, good pitching and clutch hitting down the stretch to beat the visiting Lady Raiders in comeback fashion, 9-7, topping Niagara-Orleans League softball action on Monday.

Winning pitcher Coleen Rausch (seven strikeouts, three walks), a junior, recovered from a shaky first inning to pitch an outstanding game for head coach Bill Holahan’s 7-3 team, earning a complete-game victory in the circle.

“They got up on us early, but Coleen settled down after that,” Holahan said.

“She pitched extremely well for us through to the end and didn’t allow a run in the final three innings.”

The visitors opened with a bang, plating six runs in their first at bat.

Sam Greenwald ripped an RBI triple to jumpstart the comeback. That was followed by an RBI single by Eileen Hinton and a two-run double off the bat of Paige Remmington.

The Lady Rams took a big chunk out of the Barker lead with four runs in the bottom of the third inning.

“It was a combination of things,” Holahan said, describing the comeback. “We finally got our bats going and the hits started coming.”

Roy-Hart’s Sam Smith opened the third with a base hit, and Mandy Walker followed with a well-executed bunt single. Rausch helped her own cause by driving in a run on a ground out, then moments later with the bases empty, Amanda Werth cracked a solo home run that got the Lady Rams squarely back into the game.

“Amanda’s homer really got everyone fired up,” Holahan said.

“Then we went on to score two runs in the fourth, two in the fifth and one in the sixth.”

Smith and Werth each finished with two hits for Roy-Hart.

Kelly Eagan added an RBI triple for the purple and white in the fifth. Adding base hits for Roy-Hart were Rausch, Becca Wagner and K.C. Dodge

Hinton, Barker’s pitcher, struck out five and walked three.

Defensively for the winners, Mandy Walker played a strong game in centerfield.

With one out in the seventh, Lady Rams catcher Ashley Scrinzi threw out a Barker runner trying to steal second, ending all final hopes of a Barker rally.

“That was really big. Ashley made a perfect throw to get the runner,” Holahan said.

“That got us the second out. The next batter grounded out, and that was the game.”

        

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