In a season with very few tests, Donegal softball got a big midterm Monday night in Manheim.
And passed it.
Playing the last four innings in a steady shower, the Indians (11-0 Lancaster-Lebanon League Section Three, 14-2 overall) scored six times in the sixth inning and defeated Manheim Central, 12-6.
Esther Myers got the key hit in the inning, stroking a bases-loaded, two-run, two-out single. This after designated player Milana Bucks beat out an infield single, plating courtesy runner Madison Coble with the go-ahead run.
“That was great, that was great,” said an excited Myers. “That’s how we started, and once somebody gets a good hit it energizes us.”
Energized, Myers fouled off a pitch, took a ball, then looked at a strike. With the count 2-and-2, she froze on an inside pitch, up and in. A dangerous choice as the home plate umpire had been calling that a strike all night.
“I was worried,” Myers said, “the inside ones he was calling for everybody. I was going to try to foul it off and I stood there. I thought, ‘Please don’t call it a strike!’ ”
He didn't and Myers had new life.
“I was just trying to relax my shoulders and stay composed,” she said. “The next (pitch) was high, I just trusted my hands.”
And laced it to the outfield.
Winning pitcher Cara Biesecker (3-for-5, 2 RBIs), who threw four innings behind starter Natalie Colwell, singled in a run and Ruth Myers drove in her second and third runs of the night with a single to shortstop to cap the rally.
Earlier, the Tribe jumped to a 6-0 lead on Bella Mackison’s three-run homer to the left field fence, 285 feet away, in the first inning, adding three in the second on Ruth Myers RBI sacrifice bunt and Emma Garber’s two-run single.
The Barons (8-3, 8-6) climbed off the deck on RBI singles from Hailey Peterson and Abby Logan in the second inning and Brynn Lehman’s 3-run homer in the third. They tied the game in the fifth as Lehman singled in courtesy runner Morgan Wisniewski.
After the rocky start, Barons starter Riley Hostetter held Donegal at bay over the third through fifth innings, stranding six baserunners. But two of her six walks came in the sixth inning, setting the stage for Bucks and My... Click here to read full article
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