Ross homers twice, Archbishop Wood pulls away in 6th to beat Gwynedd Mercy

WARMINSTER >> Paige Ross had already hit one home run Tuesday afternoon but Archbishop Wood’s senior catcher was confident she was not done.

“My athletic director actually came up to me and was like ‘I missed your first one,’” Ross said. “And I was like ‘I got one more in me.’”

Ross came through on that promise in the bottom of the sixth inning, connecting on a pitch to send it over the center-field fence for her second two-run homer of the Vikings’ nonleague contest with visiting Gwynedd Mercy.

“I’m definitely a power hitter but warning-track power, so I get those ones that are right off the fence or drop right before the fence,” Ross said. “But I usually don’t get one over the fence let alone two.”

The Monarchs cut a 4-0 deficit down to one but Archbishop Wood batted around in the sixth, Ross’ blast helping the home side score six times in the frame to pull away and secure a 10-3 victory.

“She’s been working really hard – really hard with her hitting and the power that she has is unbelievable,” said Wood coach Jackie Ecker of Ross. “And we’ve joked all season so far that our fence has been the nemesis because it wasn’t tacked into the ground. So we made sure it was today and they went over – well over.”

Ross, who has committed to play at Gwynedd Mercy University, went 2-for-3 with a walk, four RBIs and two runs scored as the Vikings (7-3, 4-0 PCL) extended their win streak to four.

“I was warming up and I was like I don’t really feel confident in my swing,” Ross said. “And I guess just talking myself down from that and just being confident in what I can do and what I know my team can do helps me out a lot especially if my team’s doing well. I just play 10 times better.”

Parker Kraus finished 2-for-4 with a double, three RBIs and two runs scored for Wood while Maura Yoos was 2-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and scored twice.

“They’ve been really hitting the ball well all season long,” Wood coach Jackie Ecker said. “Hitting everyday – everyday we’re hitting and I think all the practice is paying off and all their extra hitting that they’re doing on the side is really paying off so I’m not surprised that they were able to have the bats come alive.”

The Vikings’ win, however, was tempered by starting pitcher Dakota Fanelli being hit in the circle by a comebacker in the top of the first inning. Last season’s Catholic League Pitcher of the Year stayed in but eventually left the contest after keeping Wood up 4-3 with a bases-loaded strikeout to end the top of the fifth.

“In the beginning I was like ‘Oh my God,’” Ross said. “She got hit in the state game last year and I was like ‘Oh it’s just something like that, whatever.’ But towards the ending, when she came out you could tell, she was asking me to throw the ball high, you could tell she was in pain but she worked through it and I bless her for that.”

Fanelli picked up the win, giving up three runs – two earned – on two hits, walked five and struck out six over five innings. Freshman Maddison Conlon took over in the sixth and struck out three in pitching consecutive 1-2-3 innings.

Gwynedd Mercy (8-3, 5-0 AACA), which had a four-game win streak snapped, returns to Catholic Academies play hosting Villa Joseph Marie 3:45 p.m. Thursday.

Wood also plays Thursday, visiting Archbishop Carroll in a Catholic League contest at 3:30 p.m. The Vikings, who last year won the PCL title and reached the PIAA-4A quarterfinals, have outscored league opponents 43-3 so far this season.

“We haven’t dwelled on last year because it’s last year and the teams are all different,” Ecker said. “Our schedule’s pretty tough, we play a lot of Suburban (One) teams and a lot of good (Catholic) Academy teams and I think that that only making us better for our PCL games.”

Kraus gave Wood a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third with a one-out, two-RBI single to left. Two batters later, Ross made it 4-0 when she belted a two-out, two-run homer to center.

“In the beginning I just knew I had to do my job,” Ross said. “There was a runner on either second or third and I just knew I had to get her in, especially being such a close game at that point so I just looked for a good pitch I liked.”

GMA cut the margin to 4-1 in the top of the fourth as Jenna Morrison drew a one-out walk, stole second then scored on a Lexi Weiss RBI double.

In the top of the fifth, three walks loaded the bases for the Monarchs with one out. Kalie Mogg drove in a run as she reached on an error while on the next at-bat Morrison’s RBI sacrifice fly to right scored Abby Howard to make it 4-3.

A Weiss two-out walk loaded the bases again but Fanelli struck out the next batter to maintain Wood’s one-run edge.

Riley Nolan and Maggie Devlin started Wood’s half of the sixth with back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners. After Devlin stole second, Yoos doubled to left to bring in both Nolan and Devlin for a 6-3 lead.

Kraus followed with an RBI double to left, putting the Vikings up four. Ross’ second two-run homer came two batters later with one out.

Julia Yogis singled, stole second, went to third on a groundout then scored on an Allie Higdon RBI single.

Archbishop Wood 10, Gwynedd Mercy 3
Gwynedd Mercy 000 120 0 – 3 2 2
Archbishop Wood 004 006 x – 10 12 2
WP: Dakota Fanelli 5 IP 2 H 3 R 2 ER 5 BB 6 SO.
LP: Kerstein Dunlap 5.2 IP 12 H 10 R 10 ER 4 BB 1 SO.
S: Maddison Conlon 2 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 0 BB 3 SO.
2B: GMA-Lexi Weiss; AW-Parker Kraus, Maura Yoos; HR: AW-Paige Ross 2.
Archbishop Wood: Kraus 2-4, 3 RBI, 2 R; Ross 2-3, 4 RBI, 2 R; Yoos 2-3, 2 RBI, 2 R.