Avon Grove sneaks by Coatesville in 11-inning thriller

 

WEST GROVE >> When Alli Wallauer stepped to the plate in the eleventh, she knew one thing—she had to make contact, and she did, delivering the fielder’s choice to knock in the winning run as Avon Grove squeaked by visiting Coatesville 1-0 to take sole possession of first place in the Ches-Mont National division.

“This was just a great game by two great teams,” said Coatesville coach Bill Mendenhall. “This was probably the best game we played all season. Alexis (Lichtner) pitched great for us, and Maggie (Balint) was on for them. There weren’t going to be a lot of hits, so it was obvious pretty early that this was going to be decided by a single run. Unfortunately for us, they got that run.”

Starting with the tenth inning, the international tie-breaker rule went in effect, with each team starting their at bat with a runner on second base. For two straight innings, Balint left a Red Raider stranded at third, coming up with key inning-ending strikeouts.

Having left runners on first and second in the tenth, the Devils opened the eleventh with Megan Nolan on second. Morgan DeFeo followed with an infield single to make it first and third for Balint. Coatesville, for the second time in as many Balint at bats, opted to put the Oregon recruit on with an intentional walk.

“It doesn’t bother me when I get walked,” said Balint. “It’s just a sign of respect. Plus I know the kind of players I have behind me, and I knew that someone would come through in the clutch.”

Wallauer stepped to the plate, and did what she had to do, sending a ground ball to second. Ashley Traband fielded the ball cleanly, and fired home, but even with a stretch from catcher Ashley Mendenhall rivaling any first baseman, it wasn’t in time to get the speedy Nolan.

“I saw the ball go to the right side, and I knew I was going to make it,” said Nolan. This is a huge win. We’ve all been thinking about it all day. Coatesville has a great team, and it’s great to get the win.”

Despite the pressure packed situation, Wallauer wasn’t overly nervous coming up to the plate.

“I was confident that I could put it in play,” said Wallauer. “We all had great intensity and really played hard for the win. This team is getting better and better every day.

Both teams played great defense behind their pitchers, with the Coatesville infield making play after play, especially up the middle where diving stops by both shortstop Briana White and Traband saved runs.

Despite taking the hard-luck loss, Lichtner went all eleven innings, and allowed just five hits on the day. She struck out ten, and walked just one besides the two intentional passes to Balint.

Balint got the win, also going the distance. The Devils ace allowed just three hits, and struck out 20 while issuing just one base on balls.

“I was worried about this game all day,” said Balint. “Coatesville has been great all season and they are scoring a ton of runs. I told my mom before the game started it was going to be a long one.”

The only thing Balint knew for sure was that she had one pitch she’d be leaning on.

“I knew my rise ball was going to be important,” said Balint. I knew I was going to be going to it all day, and it was working.

Despite her efforts in the circle, Balint loves the way her team has progressed since losing on opening day to Henderson.

“That could have been tough on us to lose the first game like that,” said Balint. “But all it did was make us want to grow and improve as a team. It’s amazing how far we’ve come in just a few weeks. We’re doing a lot of the little things right we weren’t doing in the past. And to still be doing those things late in such a long game today was fantastic.”

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Coatesville 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 –0

Avon Grove 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1—1

Coatesville AB R H RBI
Kane—3B 4 0 1 0
Traband—2B 4 0 1 0
Lichtner—P 5 0 0 0
Mendenhall—C 3 0 0 0
White—SS 4 0 0 0
D Ricento—1B 4 0 0 0
N Ricento—CF 3 0 0 0
Vetter—LF 3 0 1 0
Minutti—RF 3 0 0 0
Nowack—PH 1 0 0 0
Totals 34 0 3 0

Avon Grove AB R H RBI
Nolan—LF 4 1 0 0
DeFeo—SS 5 0 1 0
Balint—P 3 0 0 0
Wallauer—1B 4 0 2 1
Butler—3B 4 0 0 0
Kunitsky—C 4 0 0 0
McGarvey—2B 4 0 1 0
Thompson—CF 4 0 0 0
Laterza—RF 3 0 1 0
Totals 35 1 5 1
No Extra Base Hits

Pitching IP R H K BB
Coatesville
Lichter (L) 10+ 1 5 10 3
Avon Grove
Balint (W) 11 0 3 20 1
Lichtner faced four batters in the eleventh