Bainbridge softball weathers season’s first defeat

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April 13, 2009 9:18 am
Bainbridge fastpitch player Hailey Willmann attempts a tag at first base during home action against Holy Names Wednesday.
Bainbridge fastpitch player Hailey Willmann attempts a tag at first base during home action against Holy Names Wednesday.

The Holy Names softball team handed Bainbridge its first defeat of the season on Wednesday, winning 2-1 in a game that matched the Seattle Times’ second- and fourth-ranked 3A teams.

“It was a good game,” said coach Liz McCloskey. “We made some mistakes. We’ll learn from them and fix them.”

Holy Names took a 1-0 lead in the second. The first batter reached base when her sharp grounder took a tricky hop and the second walked on a 3-2 pitch. It was the third time that Spartan pitcher Lindsay Willmann went to a full count among the first five Cougars she faced as the umpire consistently denied her the outside corner.

An error on a Holy Names bunt plated a run and put runners and second and third with none out. Willmann came back to strike out the side and prevent further damage.

After going down 1-2-3 in the first three innings, the Spartans finally got a baserunner in the fourth when Clara Dunn led off with a walk. She advanced to second on a throwing error on an attempted pickoff, moved to third on a groundout, and scampered home when another attempted pickoff throw went wild.

Willmann followed with the team’s first hit but was forced at second.

Holy Names scored the decisive run in the sixth on a leadoff single, wild pitch, groundout and a solid single to center.

The Spartans tried to answer in their half of the sixth. Dunn led off with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice by Cara Thompson. Willmann walked with two outs but both runners were stranded by a pop fly to the Cougar shortstop.

“It was a good lesson and hopefully we’ll take care of them on April 23 [when the Spartans travel to Holy Names],” McCloskey said. By then shortstop Hayley Baker will have returned to the lineup after making a speedier-than-expected recovery from a serious neck injury in an automobile accident several months ago.

The team scored 10 runs in the third inning en route to a 14-0 win over Chief Sealth on Monday. Willmann and Lauren Reichert combined on a five-inning perfect game, striking out 12 of the 15 Seahawks they faced. Willmann paced the offense with a double and triple.

Now 6-1, the Spartans host West Seattle on Monday.