Softball: Sterling gets bats going, Stingley strong in circle in win over Geneseo

STERLING – After pitcher Sienna Stingley did her best Houdini impression in the early innings Wednesday against Geneseo, the Sterling bats built on that momentum with a big fourth inning in a 12-2 Western Big 6 home win in six innings.

Elizabeth Palumbo finished a triple shy of the cycle and drove in four runs, including a bases-clearing double in the Golden Warriors’ seven-run fourth inning.

“We’re coming on now, and it’s really nice to see,” Palumbo said. “I feel like last year we kind of struggled at the beginning also, just clicking together and having that bond. But this is kind of the time last year that we started clicking, so I’m hoping that happens again. I’m just staying positive for that, and confident that we can find it again.”

Stingley escaped the first inning unscathed after Jaelyn Lambin and Tara Bomleny led off the game with consecutive singles, then pitched around a one-out Lambin single and stolen base in the third to keep Geneseo scoreless.

[ Photos from Sterling vs. Geneseo softball ]

But her masterpiece was the fourth inning. After a leadoff single by Madison Scott, Stingley threw out Annabelle Veloz on a sacrifice bunt, then struck out the next hitter. But after back-to-back walks to Payton Stohl and Morgan Snell, suddenly the bases were loaded and Sterling’s 2-0 lead looked to be in jeopardy.

But Stingley induced a groundout to third on a bang-bang play at first, and that seemed to spark the Warriors (8-6, 5-4 WB6).

“I do like pressure situations,” Stingley said. “It all goes back to trusting my defense; I always know that they have my back, so if I miss a pitch or something, they’re going to field it. It’s not a big deal to me, because we all pick each other up.

“That was a huge out, and we really took that momentum with us and we ran with it.”

Carley Sullivan drew a leadoff walk, then Georgia Gallardo singled to left. Neveah Frey hit a grounder to short, but the throw to third was mishandled and everybody was safe to load the bases.

Lauren Jacobs and Katie Dittmar drew walks to force in Sullivan and Gallardo, then Palumbo greeted the new Geneseo pitcher with a three-run double to the gap in left-center to give Sterling a 7-0 lead.

“I think it really helped with us coming in a circle together before the innings, it helped us gain confidence and come together more,” Palumbo said. “I feel like that’s been our problem at times, just playing individually, but I think the past two games we’ve really played together and done a good job of having everybody contribute.”

Palumbo went to third on a passed ball, then later scored on a wild pitch during Marley Sechrest’s at-bat. Sechrest finished the eruption with a single to right-center to drive in Ellie Leigh, who had reached on a one-out walk.

When the dust had settled, Sterling had expanded its 2-0 lead to 9-0 to take control.

“It was so amazing. We got that big out, made a good play to end their inning, then we got in there and got the bats going,” Sechrest said. “We really got settled in finally, and we’re trusting ourselves and we’re trusting each other to do what we know we can. We go up there and have a plan for ourselves in our at-bats, and then we just go up there and do our thing.”

Geneseo (12-12, 7-5 WB6) answered in the top of the fifth, as Bomleny doubled with one out and Maya Bieneman launched the next pitch over the center-field fence for a two-run homer.

But Stingley was unfazed, getting a groundout and popout to end that inning, then pitching around a one-out walk in the sixth.

“She knows that our defense, we all work for each other, so one missed pitch isn’t going to hurt too much,” catcher Sechrest said of her pitcher. “She came back and she worked really hard to get us out of those jams.”

The Warriors missed out on a chance to finish the game in the fifth, after Dittmar walked and Palumbo singled with two outs, then both moved up on a wild pitch. Stingley lined a rocket back up the middle, but the quick reflexes of Geneseo pitcher Avery Kennedy saved any runs, as she knocked the ball down and threw to first for the out.

But Sterling took advantage of their second chance to win by the run rule. Leigh singled to lead off the sixth, then Sechrest drove her in with a double to left-center. Sullivan singled to center to put runners at first and third, and Julia Thormeyer’s pop-up was dropped when the Geneseo catcher and third baseman collided trying to make the catch.

A popout and a fielder’s choice left the bases loaded with two outs, then Dittmar hit a grounder to third on an 0-2 pitch. But the throw was wild, and Sullivan and Thormeyer scored to make it a walk-off victory.

“Give credit to them, they started hitting the ball and we couldn’t put an end to it. Sometimes when the leak starts in the dam, it’s just really hard to stop,” Geneseo coach Bob Pettit said. “We didn’t hit the ball well; they came with a different pitcher than we saw last time, and we took a while to get onto it. We started hitting a little bit later, but not nearly enough.”

Stingley allowed two runs and six hits in a complete game, striking out six and walking three. Snell took the loss for Geneseo, despite allowing just two runs and three hits in three innings.

Sterling started the scoring in the first, when Jacobs singled, Dittmar walked and Palumbo reached on an error to load the bases with nobody out. Stingley’s fielder’s choice drove in Jacobs for a 1-0 lead.

Palumbo increased the margin to 2-0 with a one-out solo home run to left-center in the third, four pitches after Dittmar just missed a homer to center.

Seven different Warriors had hits in the game, and eight different players scored.