RANDY HISNER
WZBD.com
NORTH MANCHESTER – The South Adams Starfires took a 5-0 lead after two innings and then coasted to a 10-3 opening-round win over ACAC foe Bluffton Monday in the 2A Manchester Softball Sectional, setting up a semifinal showdown with county and conference rival Adams Central Tuesday at 5:30.
The Starfires (17-9) pounded out ten hits—including two each by Macy Pries, Bekah Patterson, and Cora Baker—and Peyton Pries pitched five innings of one-run ball to key the victory over the Tigers, who finished the season 7-16-1.
Pries pitched the first three innings and the last two, as coach Jessie O’Dell designed a pitch-by-committee strategy to familiarize his top three hurlers with the unusual Manchester pitching area. “It’s kind of a funky mound,” said O’Dell. “I wanted to let our kids all experience being on it in case they have to come in and pitch on it.”
Reagan Beitler pitched the fourth inning, giving up two runs, and Gracy Bixler allowed no runs in the fifth.
Pries didn’t mind that O’Dell reinserted her after a two-inning interruption—in fact, she requested the move. “It felt great,” she said. “I just told him I wanted to finish it, so he put me back in.”
The only run Pries yielded was on a long third-inning home run to center field by Bluffton pitcher Lily King, who also had two more hits and another RBI.
Four Starfire hits, a walk, and a Bluffton infield error allowed South Adams to take an early lead with three runs in the bottom of the first.
After shortstop Macy Pries led off with a line-drive single to left, Bekah Patterson hit what turned out to be a rare infield double. Her short popup between the mound and the first base line fell between King and first baseman Averianna Petty. When the ball hit the ground, it spun away from both defenders. By the time it was retrieved, the speedy Patterson had sprinted to second, Pries advancing to third.
Peyton Pries struck out, but catcher Sophia Schwartz grounded a single to left, scoring both runners. A single by Mackenzie Neuenschwander and a walk to Tessa Bernard loaded the bases, and Schwartz scored the third run of the inning when Bluffton third baseman Tyrah Shaw couldn’t handle Reagan Beitler’s grounder.
In the second inning, Bernard drove in the Starfires’ fourth and fifth runs with a sharp single down the third base line. The hit drove in Macy Pries, who had walked, and Lindsey LeFever, the courtesy runner for pitcher Peyton Pries, who had been hit by a pitch. Macy Pries and LeFever had both advanced on Schwartz’s walk.
Macy Pries drove in the Starfires’ sixth run with a single in the third inning. Then the Starfires made it 8-1 when they scored two runs on Schwartz’s fielder’s choice grounder, the second run coming on an errant throw, one of three Bluffton errors in the game.
The Tigers scored two in the fourth on a double by Marly Drayer, a single by Claire Craighead, Tressa Renner’s RBI groundout, and King’s single.
South Adams increased its lead to 10-3 with two unearned runs in the fourth. Neither team scored again.
Peyton Pries notched the win, striking out two and giving up two walks and five hits. King went the route and took the loss, walking six and striking out five.
