Shaler rips through Butler, 9-2
BUTLER TWP— There's no defense for a home run, so Butler had no defense for Shaler.
The Titans blasted four homers Tuesday, accounting for eight of their nine runs, in posting a 9-2 softball victory over the Golden Tornado.
Shaler entered the game averaging 3.2 runs per contest with a total of four homers in its first five games.
"We have a lot of power in our lineup,"Shaler coach Skip Palmer said. "We finally showed it today."
The Titans' victory added to the logjam in Section 3-AAAA, where five of the seven teams have two or three league wins.
Shaler's Stevie Stanex began Tuesday with one home run this season. She delivered a solo shot with two outs in the first inning, hitting a line drive that caromed off the yellow tubing on top of the left field fence and landed on the other side.
Stanex added a three-run homer in the seventh inning to break the game open.
In between, freshman second baseman Sam Montoya hit a two-out, three-run homer in the second inning, her second home run of the year.
Winning pitcher Meg Daley hit a solo homer — her first — leading off the third inning. Shaler's nine runs marked a season-high.
"Teams in our section know how to hit mistakes and Shaler's one of those teams,"Butler coach Lindsay Millea said. "They have smart hitters and when we didn't hit our spots, they made us pay for it."
Butler starting pitcher Stacy Reges worked the first two innings before being replaced by freshman Angie Reddick, who was greeted by Daley's homer.
"Stacy's pitches were floating a little bit, so we made the change,"Millea said. "This is the first year since I've been coaching here that we've got three viable pitchers and we're going to take advantage of that."
Another freshman hurler, Amber Skidmore, will start some nonsection games next week, Millea said.
"Stacy's a senior and she had to carry the load on the mound here for a long time,"the coach said. "She doesn't have to do that anymore."
The Golden Tornado had chances to score early, but failed. Sadie Marak singled and Nikki Hladik walked to begin the second inning, but Daley struck out Butler's Amy Steinheiser with second and third and one out, then got Karra White to bounce back to the mound.
With two outs in Butler's third frame, Jenna Geibel singled and Erica Thrower walked, but Daley struck out Marak to end the inning.
Singles by Hladik, White and Karen Cumberledge, coupled with two Shaler errors, produced Butler's two runs in the fourth.
"We were outhitting them before the seventh inning,"Millea said. "Our defense was OKtoday, too. You can't catch balls that are hit over the fence."
Shaler 131 001 3—9 10 2Butler 000 200 0—2 7 1Meg Daley (W, 5so,4bb) and Stevie Stanex; Stacy Reges (L, 0so,1bb), Angie Reddick (3, 3so,2bb) and Karra White, Erica Thrower (3).
Shaler (3-3, 2-3): Meg Daley HR2B 2-R, Stevie Stanex 2-HR4-RBI, Meg Woods 2-1B, Chelsea Siar 1B, Jenna Conrad 1B, Holly Pefferman RBI, Sam Montoya HR 1B RBI2-R
Butler (3-3, 2-3): Karen Cumberledge 1B, Jenna Geibel 2-1B, Sadie Marak 1B, Nikki Hladik 1B, Karra White 2-1B
Thursday: Butler at Seneca Valley
