Williams’ arm, bat lead Whippets past Avon Grove
By Bill Rudick
Brudick55@gmail.com
WEST GROVE—If there a formula for beating Avon Grove ace Maggie Balint, it’s to simply put the ball in play and be aggressive on the base paths. If your pitcher can add a jaw-dropping bomb of a home run when she comes to the plate at clutch time, that’s a big plus.
Downingtown West put together a great game, both at the plate and with the gloves, and when Emily Williams went deep in the sixth, the Whippets took a 4-3 lead that would hold up as the final in a key Ches-Mont National match-up.
“Sometimes you just have to tip your hat to the other team,” said Avon Grove coach Mike Deluzio. “It’s tough anytime you have an eleven-game winning streak end, but we just have to put it behind us. This game showed us several areas we need to work on, and we’ll get back to it and keep chasing the league title.”
With Avon Grove up 3-
1 in the sixth, the Whippets’ lead-off hitter extraordinaire kicked off the rally, stroking a single to left then swiping second. Coker, who finished the day 3 for 4 with a double, three stolen bases, and a pair of runs scored, is approaching the .700 mark in batting average on the season.
“I take the same approach ever at bat in every game,” said Coker. “I try to see as many pitches for my teammates as I can, which is my job as a lead-off hitter. I just try to get on base so we can score early.”
Nina Gallagher followed dropped down a bunt, and beat it out for single. An alert Coker cut the Devils’ lead to one when the ball dribbled away from the first baseman, and Gallagher shifted over to second on the throw home for Coker.
After Balint retired the next two hitters, Williams came to the plate with two outs and Gallagher standing 60 feet away as the tying run. Williams fouled off a couple of pitches—one nearly resulting in a pop foul out—then got all of a ball, sending it far beyond the fence in deepest center. It was the first homer given up by Balint since Henderson’s Heidi McCollester took her deep back in the 2014 season.
“I just tried to find one I could hit,” said Williams. “I was nervous coming to the plate, because I knew with two outs and runners in scoring position, it was going to be a hard battle. But I knew our team needed that,”
Williams also picked up the win in the circle, going five strong innings. She allowed three runs on six hits. She struck out two and walked none.
Avon Grove’s runs all came in the third, on singles from Olivia Kunitsky, Oilvia McGarvey and Megan Nolan, and a double from Balint.
The Whippets are now within a game of the division-leading Devils, and seem to be coming on strong at just the right time.
“We stopped beating ourselves,” said west coach Joey Germani. “We are doing what we need to do, working hard to get better. We are looking forward to see how far we can go in the post season. And we’re still in the hunt in the Ches-Mont, so the rest of the season is going to be fun.”
Downingtown West 1 0 0 0 0 3 0—4
Avon Grove 0 0 3 0 0 0 0—3
West AB R H RBI
Coker—C 4 2 3 0
Gallagher—2B 3 1 2 1
Rothenberger—SS 2 0 0 0
Seckinger—1B/P 3 0 0 1
Williams—P/1B 3 1 1 2
Andrus—CF 3 0 1 0
Najim—DP 2 0 0 0
Greider—FX/PH 1 0 0 0
Incollingo—3B 3 0 0 0
Ngo—RF 3 0 1 0
Totals 22 4 7 4
Avon Grove AB R H RBI
Nolan—LF 3 1 1 1
DeFeo—SS 4 0 1 0
Balint—P 4 0 2 2
Wallauer—1B 4 0 0 0
Butler—3B 3 0 0 0
Laterza—RF 3 0 0 0
Kunitsky—C 3 1 1 0
McGarvey—2B 3 1 1 0
Thompson—CF 2 0 1 0
Totals 24 3 7 3
HR—Williams 2B Balint, Coker
Pitching
West IP R H K BB
Williams (W) 5 3 6 2 0
Seckinger 2 0 1 1 0
Avon Grove
Balint (L) 7 4 7 12 0
