South Range racks up 15 hits in 9-0 shutout win over Poland
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BEAVER TOWNSHIP -- South Range has the confidence that it is capable of hitting off of anyone, at any time, anywhere.
The Raiders put that to the test last week in Myrtle Beach, playing in a spring break tournament, and again Wednesday evening against Poland, and passed on both occasions with flying colors.
South Range racked up 15 hits against the Bulldogs, shutting out Poland 9-0.
"We saw some really good pitching (at Myrtle Beach)," said South Range head coach Jeff DeRose. "We saw a (pitcher) there and traveled to her high school, not the complex we were at for the tournament, but we went to a school 45 minutes away, and saw a girl throwing 66 mph. She was the real deal and we knocked her out of the game. So I think no matter who's on the mound, we're confident at the plate.
"I talked to the girls after (the game against Poland) and told them that they did a nice job hitting, and they commented that it was almost like batting practice. (Poland pitcher Katie McDonald) is a good pitcher, we're just a good hitting team."
The Raiders picked up where they left off from spring break right away, scoring two runs off four consecutive hits in the first inning. In the second, South Range added three more hits, but was only able to score one run.
The Bulldogs were then able to keep the Raiders' bats quiet for three innings, which included a heads-up 1-3 double play to get out of the third inning.
But South Range blew things open in the sixth -- marching through the order and scoring six runs off five hits. Juli Stachowicz and Keira Brogan each had two-run blasts to help consolidate the Raiders' lead.
"We missed our spots," said Poland head coach Jim Serich. "Great hitters like that, when you miss your spots, are going to hit you. That's what happened. We'll come back (Thursday) with the same mentality and get them (then)."
As South Range piled up the hits, Poland struggled to match the Raiders at the plate. The Bulldogs finished with just five hits against Stachowicz, who had nine strikeouts and just four walks in the shutout.
"Her performance was awesome," DeRose said of Stachowicz. "She even told me, 'I'm throwing the ball a little harder today,' and I saw that. Juli's clocked in the low 60s and she pitched a hell of a game. ...Juli took command, and she never got rattled when they had runners on first and second a couple times during the game. She knows she has solid defense behind her and obviously we help out offensively, too."
Whenever Poland seemed to try to create some momentum for itself, South Range shut things down.
For example, in the third inning, trailing by three runs, the Bulldogs got their first two hitters on base with no outs. But in the next at bat, South Range slammed the door shut with a rare 4-3-6 triple play.
"You get runners on first and second with nobody out, you're hoping to keep it rolling -- get one, two or maybe three runs," Serich said. "But credit to them, they did a great job. It was a great play and we just got caught watching the paint dry."
First, second baseman Jamie Feren dove into the infield dirt to catch Mary Brant's low pop up for the first out, then Feren tossed the ball to Samantha Susany at first to force out the runner there. Susany finished off the play by zipping the ball to Brogan at second base to tag out the Poland runner who was off the base.
"We don't specifically work on triple plays, but we work on double plays," DeRose said. "When a girl's rounding bases and we know we have a force out at first, we're always looking for that girl making the turn to double her up. The girls are obviously very cautious about what's going on in front of them. When Jamie made that catch, she immediately looked at one of the runners, then (Susany) immediately looked at the other runner. We played great defense and it showed, for sure."
South Range will make the trip to Poland today at 5 p.m. for the second game of the home-and-home series.