Hamburg withstands Oley Valley rally, wins 10-9

OLEY VALLEY >> They’re ranked No. 2 and 3 in total offensive output in the Berks Conference.

Friday afternoon, it didn’t take long to figure out why.

In a game featuring a combined 19 runs on 29 hits, it was Hamburg that came out with the upper hand, withstanding a late Oley Valley barrage to come out with a 10-9 victory in a cross-divisional matchup.

The win is the sixth straight for the Hawks (7-0 Berks II, 10-3 overall), which scored in double digits for the fourth time in their last six games.

“We hit a lot,” Hamburg head coach Clark Zimmerman said. “We’re opening games where we’re up four or five runs so the defense is more relaxed, the pitcher is more relaxed and then being relaxed you play better.”

Miranda Shollenberger finished the game a triple shy of the cycle, hitting a home run to lead off the game and finishing with two RBI. Rebecca Blatt finished with a game-high four hits with a double and triple with Alex Strausser (three hits) and Erica Lutz (two hits) each helping lead the charge offensively as the Hawks took a 7-1 lead into the fifth.

“We can definitely hit,” Zimmerman said. “With Bec and Erika, I think that’s one of the toughest 3-4 combinations in the county.”

Oley just wouldn’t go away, striking for eight runs in the game’s final three innings.

Senior Brooke Yerger (three hits, two RBI) and freshman Erinn Messner (three hits, four RBI) led the way offensively as the Lynx used a pair of 3-run innings in the fifth and the sixth to pull themselves back into contention. Yerger’s two-run blast in the seventh highlighted Oley’s rally before a groundout and popup from the next two batters ended it.

Freshman Allison Nawrocki and sophomore Kelsey Schlegel finished with two hits apiece as the Lynx (3-4 Berks III, 8-8 overall) recorded 13 total hits in its second straight defeat.

“We’re just finding the routine and cutting down the errors,” Oley Valley head coach Kristin Yerger said. “We can hit, we just need to cut down the errors and continue to work with our pitchers.

“We weren’t concerned when we were down early because they fight. We have confidence in their hitting and they won’t give up until the end. That’s usually how it works, we’re slow in the first couple of innings and then we start to pick it up.”

Freshman pitcher Halle Gerner got the win in the circle, throwing all seven innings while striking out six.