Branham won its first league softball game, 6-1 on Tuesday, against Willow Glen.
After the game started 30 minutes late, the teams took the field. Branham’s starting pitcher, sophomore Marie Minteer, who has struggled a bit early in her career, suddenly began to shine. In four out of the seven innings, Minteer struck out the first batter, and ended up with 12 total strikeouts.
Minteer threw a minimum of pitches, making the Rams swing frequently. She walked only one.
Willow Glen sophomore second basemen Katie Failner crushed a ball down the right field line and hustled for a triple. The next pitch came and the Lady Bruins attempted a pickoff play. Sophomore catcher, Danessa Augenstein, and junior shortstop, Natalie Dorsey, had a slight mis-communication. The pick was thrown behind Dorsey and Failner was able to coast into home plate to make it 1-0.
From the look of it, the Lady Bruins seemed to be in for a long game. However, in the next half inning, Branham came back and answered with three earned runs, all off a single swing of the bat. Junior first baseman Emily Rodinsky turned on a pitch and sent it over the fence in left-center field for a three-run homer to make it 3-1.
After the game, junior designated hitter Tricia Smiley commented on the crucial at bat: “We all knew it would come. She hits the ball hard, which is why she is our four batter. When the ball came off the bat, everybody on the bench thought it was out, and when it got over the fence, a sense of relief came over us.”
Rodinsky was able to single-handedly put the Bruins in the lead with a huge home run.
For Willow Glen, its momentum was stolen, as it failed to score the rest of the game, and could only earn two more singles through the infield.
Branham, however, was not done. In the bottom of the third, sophomore center fielder Megan Hackleman started off the inning with a walk. Then, with a stolen base, and an error by the third basemen off of a missile from Rodinsky, Hackleman was able to score the fourth run for Branham. Then, two hitters later, Augenstein hit a two-run triple to right center, scoring the fifth and sixth runs.
This outburst clinched the game as the Lady Bruins cruised to an easy victory.
