West Greene routs Mapletown
West Greene’s Lori Hamilton scores in the top of the third inning during Tuesday’s game against Mapletown at Bobtown-Dunkard Township Municipal Park.
Mapletown third baseman Jordan Adams (11) tags West Greene's Autumn Widdup (20) for the out as Widdup attempts to steal third during Tuesday's game at Bobtown-Dunkard Township Municipal Park.
West Greene’s Bailey Bennington (24) gets to second base ahead of Mapletown shortstop Brooke Duranko (13) during the first inning of Tuesday’s game at Bobtown-Dunkard Township Municipal Park. (Photo by John F. Brothers)
West Greene pitcher Bailey Bennington releases a pitch in this file photo from last season. She led the Lady Pioneers in pitching and batting last season. (Photo by John F. Brothers)
BOBTOWN — West Greene scored eight runs in the top of the first inning en route to a 16-0 three-inning victory over host Mapletown in Section 2-A softball action Tuesday afternoon.
Leading the way once again for the Lady Pioneers was freshman pitcher Bailey Bennington. Bennington cracked three hits and was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle.
Bennington also pitched three perfect innings for the victory, snapping the Lady Pioneers’ four-game losing streak. The freshman struck out six batters.
The Lady Pioneers (6-7, 9-7) sent at least eight batters to the plate in each inning, batting around in the first and second innings. That allowed Lady Pioneers coach Billy Simms to empty his bench and get everyone into the contest.
“It is always nice to get everyone in when you have a roster of 16 or 17 kids,” Simms said. “We just try to put them in spots to be successful when we get out there.”
West Greene strung together eight runs on five hits and took advantage of four Mapletown errors in the first inning. Autumn Widdup, Taylor Horr, Jordan Rush and Faith Cross each accounted for hits in the opening frame. The big hit of the inning came from Bennington, as she blasted a two-run triple to center field for an 8-0 lead.
The Lady Pioneers continued their offensive explosion in the second inning. Three consecutive singles by Widdup, Horr and Madison Raber set up shop. Alyssa Raber then walked to score Widdup to make it 9-0. After a strikeout, Cross singled in two more runs to push the advantage to 11-0.
Bennington then added an RBI single before catcher Lauren Weaver drove in Cross with a RBI single of her own. Widdup closed out the scoring in the second when she was hit by a pitch, allowing second baseman Emily Stoll to score to make it 14-0.
West Greene added two runs in the top of the third to inflict the 15-run three-inning mercy rule. Lauren Adams took the loss for Mapletown (0-13, 0-15).
Despite being eliminated from WPIAL Class A playoff contention, Simms said that his team is plenty focused on a strong finish to the season.
“Our approach is to win every game we have left and finish those games 5-0,” Simms said.