Streaking Downingtown West blanks W.C. East
DOWNINGTOWN — While the Ches-Mont League National Division softball race looked to be between Avon Grove and West Chester East, but like a horse thundering down the stretch on the outside, Downingtown West is closing fast.
Just a day after grinding out a win over one of the top pitchers in the state in Avon Grove’s Maggie Balint, the Whippets (10-5) did all the hitting in a 7-0 triumph over one of the district’s best hitting teams in West Chester East (12-3).
“We’re getting better at focusing on each team individually,’ said Whippets coach Joey Germani. “We’d get up there and just hack, but now we’re starting to adapt and take what the pitcher is giving us. We have a lot of good sticks in our lineup, and we’re starting to hit the way we can.’
The Whippets pounded out 11 hits in the game, led by Emily Williams who was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate with three RBIs. Marissa Seese had a pair of hits in three at-bats, including an RBI triple. Jamie Rothenberger doubled in a run and scored three times and Alicia Wagner went 2-for-4 and scored twice as West pounded out 11 hits.
“I think we’d been slumping a little bit hitting,’ said Seese. “But we knew what to expect with this pitcher (Olivia Rogers). We knew what pitchers she throws and what locations she likes to hit. And we took advantage of that.’
The Whippets got on board in the third, plating two runs on singles from Hays, Seese and Wagner plus an error. They added another run in the fifth before exploding for four in the sixth.
West has been going to a tag team in the circle, starting Williams with Seese coming on in relief. On Wednesday, Williams held the Vikings in check, allowing just two hits, a clean single from Steph Batog in the first and an infield single from Kristen Fuertes. Williams struck out one and didn’t issue a walk.
“Using the two of them has worked well for us,’ said Germani. “We let Emily go four innings, and bring in Mo for the last three. It makes for two completely different looks, and that can be hard on hitters.’
Seese was lights out for the final three innings — retiring the final nine batters in order — five by strikeout.
“I think we’ve got a really good rhythm going right now,’ said Seese. “Today was especially good because we got all those runs early. I could just concentrate on making my pitches.’
The Vikings fell into a first-place tie with Avon Grove in the National, and are currently fifth in the District 1 power rankings.
“We didn’t play well in any facet of the game,’ said coach Chuck Lindsay. “We had a plan and we didn’t stick to our plan. We had bad approaches and just didn’t execute. We’ve just got to raise the intensity and do all the little things we were doing in the 14 games prior to today.’
