Rustin caps regular season with win over Ridley
WESTTOWN>>Rustin and Ridley entered Tuesday’s non-league tilt coming off very different games the previous day. Ridley had just put together a big win, shutting out previously undefeated Garnet Valley, while Rustin was still feeling the sting of defeat, having dropped their Ches-Mont finale to Oxford.
But the only game that ever matters is the one being played. The Golden Knights (13-7) scored early, played great defense behind pitchers Lauren Greenwood and Emily Gillis, and notched a 5-2 victory over the visiting Raiders, who fall to 16-3, with a match-up with Interboro left on the regular season slate.
“This was a great win and a team effort all the way around,” said Rustin coach Dennis Becker. “Things hadn’t been going our way lately, but this team never stopped battling. Everyone played lights out today. We said yesterday, that a new season starts today, and this was a nice way to head into the playoffs.”
The Golden Knights got on the board in a hurry, pushing three runs across in the first. Jenna Kraft (2 for 3, 2B, 2R) led off, stroking a single to right, moving over to third on a double from Kelly Fricker, and then scored on a sacrifice fly from Paige Bentley.
Up next for Rustin was clean-up hitter Taylor Kuhn, who launched a home run to center, giving the Golden Knights a 3-0 lead after one.
“It’s always huge to get an early lead, especially against a good team like Ridley,” said Kuhn, who also stroked a double down the left field line during the win. “You just work off that lead and keep going. It’s really exciting to get this kind of win. It lets us know we can still get the job done against good teams, and that’s always a great thing heading into the playoffs. We still believe we can finish on top at the end.”
Those kinds of wins had been hard to come by the past couple weeks for the Knights, the defending District 1, 5A champions, having hit a bit of a rough patch.
“As a whole, we’ve been in a weird little funk lately,” said Fricker, who finished the day 2 for 3 with a double and a solo home run. “We had a players-only meeting yesterday that I think really helped us get refocused on the things we can control. This was the kind of clean game we know we can play.”
The Knights added an unearned run in the second, and Fricker’s solo shot in the fourth, then rode the stellar pitching of southpaw starter Greenwood (4 IP, 2ER, 4 hits, 3K, 2BB) and right-handed reliever Gillis (3IP, 0ER, 1H, 1K, 1BB) to victory.
“We, as coaches, talked about how good a hitting team Ridley was, so we knew coming in we would trying mixing things up on them, with different looks and speeds,” said Becker. “When (Ridley’s Jolie Torrens) led off the fourth with the home run, we just figured that would be the time to change things up, and it worked well for us. It’s a nice luxury to know we have two girls that can get it done for us.”
