By John Bombatch
BEAVERCREEK — In definitely the coldest game this season for either team, visiting Huber Heights Wayne defeated Beavercreek, 10-6, at Beavercreek’s Rotary Park.
“This is the coldest game we’ve played in, without a doubt,” laughed Wayne coach John Chesley. “But the girls still were able to swing the bats, and that was key. We’ll take this win. We had a good pitching effort, because (Beavercreek) can hit the ball, too. But we played well, offensively. We’ll take it.”
After a scoreless first inning, Wayne took advantage of a trio of Beavercreek errors in the second.
One Warriors batter reached on an errant throw to first, another was safe on a drop at first, and a run scored on an errant pick-off attempt at second. In all, Wayne (2-2, 1-0 Greater Western Ohio Conference, Central Division) scored five runs on two hits and three Beavers errors.
With Beavercreek’s Kayla Dinsmore at second, teammate Raidyn Johnson turned a potential pick-off at first into a stolen base. While Johnson was busy bobbing and weaving to avoid a tag, Dinsmore raced home from second to put the Beavers on the scoreboard. Beavercreek trailed 3-1 at the time.
Wayne tacked on a pair of runs in the fifth inning on Ryleigh Crouse’s deep home run over the left centerfield fence to make it 7-1. Chesley estimated the ball’s distance at “280-feet, easily,” he said. “That was a heckuva hit.”
Beavercreek responded with a long ball of its own. First, Cierra Chastain led off the inning with a triple, then Natasha Price drew a walk., then Dinsmore walloped a shot over the right field fence to make the score 7-4 in Wayne’s favor.
That’s as close as Beavercreek would get, however.
Wayne responded with a four-hit, 3-run sixth inning to stay out in front for good.
Morgan Santos went 3-for-3, reached on two errors, scored twice and stole a base; Beth Wills doubled and singled and drove in a run; Marissa Philpott tripled and singled, scored twice and drove in a run; Sam Boyer went 3-for-4 with a double, RBI and two runs scored; and Crouse went 3-for-4 and had a double to go with her two-run homer, driving in four runs in all.
On the mound, Wayne’s Marissa Norgrove recorded eight strikeouts while scattering 11 Beavercreek hits in the complete-game win.
For Beavercreek (1-4, 0-1 GWOC Central), Chastain doubled and tripled to score two runs from the lead-off spot in the Beavers’ lineup, and Dinsmore walked, homered and scored three runs batting third in the lineup.
Beavers coach Paul Martin said the bitter cold weather wasn’t a factor in Monday’s loss.
“Absolutely not. Absolutely not. It’s the same for both teams. If we’re not mentally strong enough to deal with the cold, then our opponent deserves to win,” Martin said. “Chastain and Dinsmore are doing a nice job hitting for us. We just need to play better defense. … It hurts to lose a divisional game, but we’ll just have to play better defensively from here on out.”
Both teams will face each other again today, but this time the game will take place in Huber Heights.
