Press release:
Both teams were strong in the circle on Friday, but the Alexander Trojans defeated York 2-1.
Madison Boyce started the game on Friday before the game was cut short because of rain.
Boyce picked up Saturday morning, where she left off the day before and earned the win for Alexander, while Emily Pietrzykowski had Boyce’s back and nailed down the save.
York drew first blood in the contest when they scored on a wild pitch in the top of the first. Then, in the bottom of the fourth inning, Melissa Sawyer put one in the left-center gap for a double before she advanced to 3rd on a past ball. Sawyer scored on a fielder’s choice to second hit by Melanie Bump to tie the game at 1.
Alexander didn't take the lead until the 5th inning when Ava Yax singled scoring Kaylin Dinkins, who was pinch running for Brianna Neyman after she landed a one-out single.
The Alexander defense tightened up to close the door on York and advance to the second round on Tuesday, where they will travel to Pavilion for a 5 p.m. semifinal game.
Sophomore Ava Yax set the tone at the top of the lineup, leading Alexander with two hits in three at-bats, a stolen base, and an RBI. Boyce, Neyman, and Sawyer all had hits on the day.
Madison Boyce earned the win for the Trojans. Boyce only gave up one hit and one run (zero earned) over five innings, striking out seven and walking six. Pietrzykowski only surrendered two hits while striking out two to earn the save.
"We learned tonight that we never want to be a part of another weather-suspended game ever again," said Coach John Goodenbury. "We let in an unearned run in the first inning and had to stew on it for the night as the game was suspended heading into the 3rd inning. In a ball game, an offense can start to wear down a pitcher with quality at-bats, but this unique circumstance allowed both teams to pitch two innings and then get the night off to reset for the next day when play resumed. This takes away the nuances of the game, and we had to focus on a fresh pitcher who only had to go 5 innings after a full night's rest. We had to rely on our girls adjusting in the box to her after seeing her once the day before. That is a ton of pressure for our girls, but they dealt with it, and we are moving on. It wasn’t our finest game, but we got the win to stay alive, and we are now focused on Pavilion for Monday. Today was a total team effort and we know Pavilion is a very good team this year so we are not taking this next match lightly, it’s do-or-die time. I would like to give a special thank you to our AD Eric Romesser and the outstanding Alexander maintenance crew for working magic to get our field ready after the pounding rain it took yesterday."
Submitted photos.
