RANDY HISNER
WZBD.com
The Heritage softball team picked up its first win of the season Thursday at the Patriots’ field, beating the New Haven Bulldogs, 6-3, behind a combined two-hitter by Hadlee Shipp and Addie Bacon.
Shipp, a sophomore, did the lion’s share of the work, going the first six innings before giving way to Bacon, a freshman, who pitched a perfect seventh, striking out two. Shipp struck out nine, walked four, and gave up only one earned run.
Bacon was also one of four Patriots to collect two hits. The others were Elaine Bickel, Isabella Myers, and Sydney Martin.
The Bulldogs (0-3) went up 1-0 in the top of the first when leadoff hitter Cassidy Johnson reached first on a hit by pitch, then scored when the Patriots erred on two bunts. With two runners still on base with one out, Shipp slammed the door on the rally with a pair of strikeouts.
The Pats (1-2) quickly responded with a run in the bottom of the inning, Myers driving in Elaine Bickel with a double to left center. Bickel had led off the inning with a single up the middle.
After a scoreless second, both teams scored a run in the third. New Haven loaded the bases with one out and scored Jaedyn Hoover on a fielder’s choice at third base. Heritage got its run when Myers scampered home on a wild pitch after smashing her second extra base hit of the game, a triple down the right field line.
In the fourth, Elaine Bickel drilled a one-out triple to right, and Shipp plated her with a fielder’s choice groundout to third, giving the Patriots a 3-2 lead. They rallied for three more runs in the fifth, thanks to singles by Bacon and Martin, a New Haven error, and Audra Bickel’s two-out double to right center.
The Bulldogs managed to push across their final run in the sixth on a lead-off walk by Kaley Evans, a wild pitch, and two fielder’s choices.
The Patriots started three freshmen and four sophomores, but head coach Amanda Minchski is not concerned about her team’s youth. “They’ve totally accepted the challenge,” she said of her freshmen. “They are in and out leaders and, you know, that’s one thing we say in our program—anybody can lead, and they’re jumping into that role. They don’t care that they’re freshmen; they don’t look at themselves that way.”
“And, you know,” Minschski continued, “our sophomores, a lot of them got a ton of playing time as freshmen last year. So we’ve seen massive improvement from those guys, in every facet of the game. So we’re really happy with everybody. You know, they might be sophomores and freshmen, but they’re playing like juniors and seniors.”
In less than three weeks, Heritage will begin ACAC play. Minchski thinks the Jay County Patriots (5-0) will be the conference favorites. “Jay County’s always tough,” she said. “They can hit the snot out of the ball.” Results so far support that observation. Jay County has scored in double digits in every game, including a 40-run outburst against Winchester.
Heritage travels to Wayne Friday to take on the 0-1 Generals at 5:30 P.M.
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