On a beautiful spring evening (about time) the Lady Quakers earned a hard fought 2-0 victory over the undefeated United Eagles. The first four innings of this classic pitchers duel would see both teams held hitless and scoreless with 18 k’s to that point. Alyssa Inman would have the lone United hit in the 5th.
In the top of the 6th with the score still 0-0, Sydney Kline led off with a soft slap single (say that three times quickly) towards the 5-6 hole. Bailee Thorn bunted, moving Syd but went all the way to 3rd on the overthrow with Syd scoring the games first run with a head first slide home. Bailee would score (another head first slide) making it 2-0 Quakes on a wild pitch. Brooke Veglia smoked a single and Elly Exline had the other Salem hits in the game. Bailee Thorn, Elly Exline and Alyssa Laubacher stole a base in the game. Salem made the needed adjustments in the later innings striking out just 3 times in the last 4 innings after whiffing 6 times in the first three innings vs the dominant lefty ace – Annie Patterson. Annie will be playing at West Liberty College next season.
Defensively senior Alyssa Laubacher played well at 3b. After last nights loss to Marlington, Alyssa stayed over and worked on fielding ground balls. That work paid off today and showed the type of leader she is. In the 6th inning of tonight’s game Alyssa got hit straight to her helmet forcing it up and bloodied her nose. It took a few seconds to check Alyssa, clear the bleeding and a sub was being announced – but Alyssa wasn’t coming out of the game. Alyssa’s work ethic, heart and toughness is what Salem Softball is all about!
Taylor Thorpe (6-2) pitched a complete game allowing just one hit. She would strike out 15 batters with a streak of 7 in a row.
-Salem has a doubleheader tomorrow at Warren Harding.
-Salem is now 24-12 out of conference the past three years.
-Salem celebrated at DQ after the game. Salem wins help the economy!