Softball: Waldschmidt’s walk-off lifts Newman past Annawan-Wethersfield

STERLING – In increasingly wet conditions Wednesday evening, both the Newman and Annawan-Wethersfield defenses refused to give an inch.

With the pitchers getting out of jams thanks to timely pitches and steady play behind them despite the heavy mist, the game entered the bottom of the seventh all tied up.

But the bottom of the Comets lineup came through, and set the table for Ady Waldschmidt’s walk-off RBI single for a 2-1 victory in their nonconference contest.

[ Photos from Newman vs. Annawan-Wethersfield softball ]

Amiya Rodriguez smacked a double down the left-field line with one out, then moved to third on Sam Ackman’s bloop single over shortstop; Ackman then went to second on the throw to third. That brought up Lucy Oetting at the top of the order, and the first pitch hit her in the helmet to load the bases.

With the infield and outfield both drawn in, Waldschmidt ripped a low line drive between the first and second basemen and Rodriguez cruised home with the winning run.

“I was thinking that contact was going to win the game, or even a walk, so I just wanted to have a smart at-bat,” said Waldschmidt, who didn’t play the field while serving as the designated player for the first time in her career. “I went up there thinking to just put the ball in play and letting the game settle itself. Obviously I placed it in the perfect spot; me being a lefty batter, I just pulled it into the gap.”

It was a fitting end to a game that saw both offenses put runners on base, only to have the pitchers strand them there.

Jess Johns (1-0) struck out six and walked four, and pitched around a baserunner in six of the seven innings. She gave up one unearned run and four hits, and made key pitches when she had to.

“I know as a pitcher, how your mental game and what your thoughts are during the game is kind of how it’s going to go. So if you even have the slightest bit of, ‘Oh, what if I don’t throw it in the right spot, she’s going to hit a home run,’ if you’re going to second-guess, then that’s probably what’s going to happen,” she said. “So you kind of just have to stay calm, even lie to yourself and say, ‘This pitch is going here, it’s going to be good.’ Kind of just trick yourself into being confident – and if the pitch doesn’t go well, just shaking it off and laughing at yourself. You always want to take the game seriously, but not serious enough to where you psych yourself out.”

The biggest jams were in the third and the seventh, but both times she got out unscathed.

In the third, Elaina Manuel walked with one out, then went to second on Kennadi Rico’s groundout to shortstop. Paige Huffman then hit a pop fly in the middle of the diamond, and two Newman fielders collided and the ball dropped. But Johns picked up the ball and threw out Manuel at the plate as she rounded third and tried to score to keep it a scoreless tie.

Karsyn Rico scored a run in the top of the fourth for the Titans (0-2), as she reached on a two-out fielder’s choice, then scored when Wavelynn Peart’s single got past the Newman left fielder for a two-base error.

But the Comets (3-0) answered in the bottom of the fifth, again at the bottom of the order. Brenleigh Cook and Sophia Ely both reached on hard-hit infield singles to start the inning, then Addison Foster bunted them over to put runners on second and third with one out. Ackman smacked a sharp grounder back to Peart in the circle, and Cook scampered home; a surprised Peart looked at Cook and might have had a play at the plate, but the move seemed to catch her off-guard and she threw to first for the out as Cook scored the tying run.

After Johns’ only 1-2-3 inning in the sixth, A-W pinch hitter Marlie Lindstrom blooped a single with one out in the seventh, then after Cook made a nice catch at second for the second out, Lindstrom went to third after Manuel’s single got past the Newman left fielder.

But with runners on second and third, Johns got her final strikeout to preserve the 1-1 tie.

“I think if I got in my head and really thought about it, when there are two girls on base and their No. 2 batter is up, and I was thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’m freaking out!,’ it would’ve ended different,” Johns said. “But I just tried to stay calm and throw good pitches.

“Plus, my defense was really good today and made a lot of plays. Especially having new people in new positions, it’s really important to start out the year with that trust of, ‘Oh yeah, they’ve got that. I missed my spot, but they picked me up.’ It’s good team softball, a little push and pull, give and take, just playing as a team and being there for each other.”

Peart allowed two earned runs and six hits in a complete game for A-W, striking out one, walking three and hitting two batters. She also had a strong defense behind her, as the Titans made only one error and seemed to track down every grounder and fly ball the Comets hit for most of the game.

“We played a very good game. We had five errors [Tuesday] night against St. Bede, so this was much better, more like what I was expecting out of our team,” coach Anrthony Dearing said. “And the pitching, Wavelynn, she’s a freshman, she gave us a solid game, and we played solid defense. I can’t complain about our effort tonight.”

Waldschmidt had two hits to lead Newman, and Cook, Ely, Rodriguez, Foster and Ackman all came through with key production on offense in the bottom four spots in the lineup. Cook and Oetting also came up with some key plays at second and shortstop, including a couple of diving catches to end innings and keep the Titans off the scoreboard.

That total team effort has been there through all three games so far for the Comets.

“I love seeing all of our success so far. I know it’s only the first week, but already we’ve built so much confidence,” Waldschmidt said. “I can see all of the freshmen having a big role – two of the freshmen have been leadoff for two of the games – and just seeing them step up. And seeing all the juniors being leaders is really, really eye-opening, just showing how hard they’ve worked the past two years.”