The South Adams Starfires earned a split in their doubleheader Saturday at Coldwater, coming back to win the second game with a 14-5 victory behind three-hit games for Peyton Pries and Cora Baker.Â
“We had several kids have big days for us. Overall, it was a good day. We were really hoping to get game one, but a split against a team with Madison Wendel on it is not a bad day.” – South Adams head coach Jessie O’Dell.
Pries drew the start in the opener and battled with Coldwater, but the home team scored twice in the bottom of the third to cut the SA lead to 3-2 and then pushed three runs across in the bottom of the sixth to secure the victory.Â
“We knew going into the game that Madison Wendel was going to be tough to beat,” noted O’Dell. “She throws hard and has several pitches in her bag, so our goal was to put the ball in play and put pressure on their defense. We were able to do that in the first inning with two bunt singles and good baserunning by Bekah Patterson and Peyton Pries.”
Coldwater’s Madison Wendel was dealing, striking out 13 and allowing just six hits. South Adams got on the board with a couple of runs in the top of the first inning with hits by Pries and Bekah Patterson, then took a 3-0 lead when Peyton doubled in her sister, Macy.
Wendel had the big hit in the late rally by Coldwater, knocking in two runs to take the lead with a single to left.Â
“In the bottom of the 6th,” said O’Dell, “Peyton started getting tired but with two runners on, two outs and a full count she had a chance to get out of it. Peyton throw a pitch that we wanted called a strike. Instead it went the other way and Wendel was up with bases loaded and she got a big hit. They ended up scoring three runs that inning. Wendel took care of us in the 7th.”
Gracy Bixler threw the second game for the Starfires and she scattered six hits across seven innings to beat Wendel, who threw the first two innings and allowed four runs.Â
“Game two we scored 4 runs off of Wendel in the first two innings and they brought in their number two pitcher. We had a tough time adjusting to her slower speed for a couple of innings, but we started to get it figured out,” noted O’Dell.
Bixler did it all in the second game, knocking in a team-high three runs with three hits as Cora Baker and Shea Alberson did a nice job of getting on base in front of the Starfire hurler.
Kenzie Neuenschwander had a triple and two RBI for the Stars, while Peyton Pries also had a three-bagger to go along with her two singles.
Macy Pries walked and singled and stole three bases from the leadoff spot.Â
“I was proud of our girls, Peyton did what she could in game one. She really only had one bad inning, but we missed opportunities on defense preserve that win. That would have been a very good win against a pitcher like Wendel ( she has committed to Marshall to play college in 2024). But to come out and jump on her for 4 runs in game two, proved to me that our girls don’t have quite in them. They could have been dejected to see her back on the mound in game two, but they attacked.”
O’Dell also loved what he saw from Bixler after Pries got the start in the first game.
“Gracy Bixler looked great on the mound in game two for us. She was cruising along until the 5th or 6th inning. Again, a couple of costly errors got them back into the game. Errors lead to walks, and walks lead to errors is something I feel happens during bad innings…and we had one.”
The Starfires travel to Ohio again Monday to take on Parkway. They will also play at New Haven Thursday before a doubleheader Saturday at Norwell, with the first game being broadcast on WZBD at 10:30 a.m.