SANDWICH – Sandwich coach Mattie McGuire said Brooklyn Marks has plenty of power in her bat, plus the speed of a fast runner.

Marks showcased both skills in one play Wednesday.

The Sandwich junior shortstop hit an inside-the-park, two-run home run, one of her two run-scoring hits on the day. Marks and the Indians’ bats came alive after a tough start to the week, and a rough start to Wednesday’s game, to beat visiting Streator 8-5.

Marks, who earlier singled in Johanna Freemon with the go-ahead run in the second inning, came to the plate in the fifth with two outs and Hannah Decker at first base.

She went the opposite way for a line drive over the Streator right fielder, and scooted all the way home for the second inside-the-park home run of her life.

“Getting extra bases was all I was thinking – and then just keep running,” Marks said. “It’s exciting. Just keep running the bases. I love base running.”

Marks, Decker and Mia Geltz all went 2 for 3 at the plate for Sandwich (6-2) in support of winning pitcher Peyton Dudzik.

Dudzik, in her first start, bounced back from a rocky three-run first inning that started with Rilee Talty’s leadoff triple to go the distance, striking out 10.

“She battled back after that first inning, came right back,” McGuire said.

Sandwich, a day after its bats were quieted in a 4-1 loss to Richmond-Burton, erased the early 3-0 deficit with a run in its half of the first, three in the second and three in the third. Decker’s two-out, two-run triple gave the Indians a 6-3 lead.

“Today it was our goal no matter what kind of pitchers that we saw that we were going to be aggressive hitters,” McGuire said. “We were struggling to see the ball with the spin.”

Marks specifically has been working through some struggles at the plate, trying to fix some of her hitting stances and swing. McGuire said she’s worked to cut down on the ball rather than lift it in efforts to hit more line drives than pop-ups.

Marks had a couple of pop-ups Wednesday, but the homer was hit on a line.

“She lifts the ball and she needs to push it down,” McGuire said. “If she pushes it down, she’ll get that happy medium. She won’t get grounders, she’ll get line drives.”

Marks has been getting more of it lately.

On Monday she hit a line-drive, two-run double in the seventh inning, the game-winning hit in an eventual 3-0 win over Harvard.

“I’m working on my front foot to keep closed instead of keeping my toe open. I have improved with that,” Marks said. “I’m trying to not pop up, to not have a big golf swing, to hit line drives.”

Streator (3-8) started off well, Talty tripling to lead off the game and scoring on an errant pickoff attempt. Reagan Morgan, who was 3 for 3, singled in the second of three first-inning runs.

But the Bulldogs had only three hits after the first inning, with five of their 10 strikeouts looking.

“We have to get more disciplined at the plate,” Streator coach Louis Ondrey said. “We were chasing balls high. We knew by the third inning that he was calling the low strike and we let it go every time. We have to get more disciplined. Too many strikeouts looking.”

Talty just missed a homer with her first-inning triple, and reached base three times. In the fifth inning she walked, and with aggressive and heads-up base running came around all the way to score on Makenna Ondrey’s groundout when Sandwich didn’t cover third base.

“Rilee, any other field she probably gets a home run, but it’s 225 [feet] here,” coach Ondrey said. “That’s the athlete she is. She is always ready. She is quick and she thinks quick.”