Softball: 3 WFC errors lead to 7 unearned runs in Seneca’s 7-4 win in series opener

SENECA – The Woodland/Flanagan-Cornell softball team did a spectacular job of playing with, probably even outplaying, the one-loss Seneca Fighting Irish for all 39 outs of Monday’s Tri-County Conference series opener.

It was the extra outs that burned the upset-minded Warriors, who surrendered seven unearned runs in a 7-4 loss to host Seneca. A missed fly ball that led to two runs in the second inning and two wayward throws in the home half of the fifth opened the door to a lead-flipping, five-run frame.

“I just told them [in the postgame huddle], the better-coached, more-disciplined team doesn’t always win, but the team that makes the fewest mistakes seems to win a lot,” Fighting Irish coach Brian Holman said.

“We’ve done that a lot this year where we maybe haven’t been as sharp as we need to be, but if you don’t walk people and you don’t make errors, that can do a lot of good for you in the end.”

The Fighting Irish (12-1, 7-0 TCC) are scheduled to visit WFC (6-6, 3-5) on Tuesday to conclude the series.

Seneca struck first with a two-run second. Audry McNabb drew a leadoff base on balls to start the frame and advanced to second on Tessa Krull’s sacrifice bunt. WFC’s first error, a misplayed fly to right off the bat of Hayden Pfeifer, allowed McNabb to score and Pfeifer to take third base, from which she scored on Aurora Weber’s squeeze bunt to make it 2-0.

The Warriors responded quickly, however, equalizing the scoreboard with two in the third on back-to-back-to-back singles from Olivia Chismarick, Shae Simons and Ella Derossett, the last scoring two.

WFC took a 4-2 lead in the top of the fifth on Emma Palaschak’s solo home run to left-center that chased Seneca starting pitcher Krull (4 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 8 K) and added an insurance run when Chismarick drew a walk and eventually came in to score on Kaiden Connor’s two-out single to center.

Like Seneca’s earlier advantage, it was short-lived.

Warriors ace and hard-luck losing pitcher Simons (6 IP, 0 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 6 K) got a pair of routine fly balls to center to start the fifth and then hit Camryn Stecken with a two-strike pitch. A throwing error to first on what should’ve been the third out, a McNabb RBI single, another throwing error that allowed the tying and winning runs to score and Pfeifer’s no-doubt-about-it, two-run homer to right on an 0-2 pitch made it 7-4 in favor of the Irish.

“After swinging and missing at two pitches in a row, I was definitely just looking to put the barrel on the ball and make contact,” said Pfeifer, a freshman. “There’s a runner on third, just get her in. With two outs, just do what you can.

“It definitely felt good off the bat.”

Pfeifer (2 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 4 K), who took the circle in relief of Krull in the fifth, worked out of some trouble in the fifth and seventh innings to notch the victory.

“They’re a good team,” WFC coach Mike Hoekstra said. “We can’t give ’em those extra outs. Shae pitched a [heck] of a game. We came out hitting better than we had been against that speed of pitching.

“You just can’t commit that many errors against a solid team and expect to win the game.”

Pfeifer with a single, homer and two RBIs along with Emma Mino with two hits led the Seneca offense, which finished the day being outhit 8-6 by the Warriors and Simons.

“I told their coach, I hate Shae and I love her,” Holman said of Simons, who’s played summer ball for Holman. “I feel like she’s been in school for eight years. You know what she can do, and you’re just hoping for a mistake, and we were fortunate we capitalized on a couple.”

Palashak (3 for 3, home run) and Chismarick (2 for 3) had multihit performances for the Warriors.