STANDISH — Allie Pike pitched a gem on the mound for Bonny Eagle (4-1) against Sanford (3-4) on Wednesday, but for much of the game, she found herself on the losing end of the scoreboard. The Scots offense afforded her little run support, so in the bottom of the seventh, Pike took matters into her own hands by hitting a walk-off single to give the Scots a 3-2 victory in an SMAA softball game at Bonny Eagle High School.
Pike gave up a single to the first batter of the game, as Sanford’s Nicole Main connected on the first pitch she saw. That was the last Pike gave up until the sixth inning, but the Scots ran into trouble in the second.
Sam Fecteau led off with a grounder back to Pike, who bobbled the initial attempt, then threw off-target to first, allowing Fecteau to reach and advance to second. A wild pitch third strike to Morgan Coleman then moved Fecteau to third, and she scored a batter later on a sacrifice groundout by Courtney Camire. Three batters later, the Scots appeared to get out of the inning without any more damage, but Mains reached first safely after Bonny Eagle first baseman Rebecca Howell dropped a tag out attempt, allowing Coleman to score.
Pike then finally got out of the inning by striking out Jordan Wilson, which started a string of 11-straight batters retired.
“She was good; she was on,” Sanford head coach Mike Bailey said of Pike, who gave up just three hits while striking out eight. “She’s a great pitcher.”
“We knew we needed more of a lead, but it was just hard, because we couldn’t get the bat on the ball today,” said Sanford starting pitcher Jen Jones.
But while Pike was setting down batter after batter, the Scots offense couldn’t give her any support. Bonny Eagle scored a single run in the second on consecutive lead-off doubles by Howell and Breanna Lifland, but Jones got out of the jam with a pop up, a strikeout, and an inning-ending groundout.
Jones then treaded through the next three innings without allowing a run, even as the Scots put runners on base each inning.
“She was pitching to contact. Didn’t have a lot of strikeouts, but had great movement on her ball,” Bailey said of Jones. “She was keeping hitters off-balance a little bit, which is the next step for her in her progression.”
When Jones’ own offense failed her ”“ she singled with one out in the sixth to break Pike’s streak, but was stranded at third ”“ the Scots answered by finally picking up their pitcher. Bonny Eagle hit three-straight singles to lead off the bottom of the sixth, which tied the game and knocked out Jones.
“It’s never safe when you’re playing a good team, a good opponent,” Bailey said of his team’s slim lead. “Where we’re young, we’ve got to capitalize on every inning. Our motto is to compete every single inning, and that’s what we’ve got to continue to do.”
Lindsey Herzig came on in relief and got the three outs with a double play on a fly-out to left and a groundout.
The Spartans put the first two batters on in the top of the seventh with a dropped shallow fly and an infield single, but after a sacrifice groundout put the runners at second and third, a line out and a strikeout ended the threat.
“Clutch hitting is big. Any time you play in the SMAA, and you play great opponents, you’ve got to have clutch hitting,” said Bailey. “And that’s just something we’ve got to get better at.”
That paved the way for Pike’s heroics in the bottom of the frame. Pinch-hitter Jami Carson led off with a bloop single to left ”“ the Scots’ fourth bloop hit of the game ”“ and Lauren Turner followed with a bunt single down the first base line. A wild pitch moved the runners up, and Pike brought home Carson with a liner to left that dropped past the glove of Wilson.
“I think we can look at our compete level today, and that we came out and played good softball today,” Bailey said. “That’s really important for us as a young team is to have known that we came out, gave a great effort and really competed today.”
“It was just unlucky today,” said Jones. “We’ll get it next game.”
— Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.
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