Burrell softball rides explosive offense to mercy-rule win

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, April 10, 2018 | 10:57 PM

The Burrell softball team is off to a fast start in Section 1-3A.

The Bucs have 28 hits in two section contests, including 13 on Tuesday against Deer Lakes. They scored at least three runs in three innings and cruised to a 12-2 victory over the Lancers at Bon Air.

“In an interview before the season started, I said the girls were ready to unleash,” Burrell coach Brian Eshbaugh said. “I thanked them after the game for making me look good and backing up my comment.”

The Bucs are 2-0 in section play and 2-1 overall. They host Freeport (2-0, 1-0) on Wednesday in a key early season section matchup.

Freshman Elizabeth Clark delivered all of the scoring Burrell would need with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the third.

With two outs and the bases loaded, Clark made contact with an offering from Deer Lakes pitcher Katelynn Blair and deposited it over the fence in left field to extend Burrell's lead to 5-0.

“When I made contact, I felt it had a shot of going over,” Clark said. “There were three people on base, and I knew I had to have a good hit. Everybody is hitting. It's not just one or two in the lineup. That's a great feeling.”

The grand slam was the second in as many games for the Bucs. Kayla Santucci hit one in last Thursday's 12-1 win over section foe South Allegheny. “That was a big boost to the team,” said Eshbaugh concerning Clark's blast. “With a good team like Deer Lakes, you have to get them down. Even at 5-0, I wasn't totally comfortable knowing the way they can score runs. We wanted to add on, and we did that.”

Senior Brittany Dunn gave up seven hits and two earned runs while striking out six to earn the win in the pitching circle. She helped herself at the plate by going 4 for 4.

Kelly Nitowski drove in three runs, and cleanup hitter Leah Coffman collected two hits and two RBIs.

Burrell scored four times in the bottom of the sixth, and a run-scoring single from Charlie Confer put the mercy rule into play and ended the game.

“When we work together, both offensively and defensively, we can have many good outcomes,” Dunn said.

Eshbaugh noted several strong defensive plays that helped his team to the victory, including a running, shoe-top catch by freshman right fielder Rikki Wyble in the sixth and a relay throw from center fielder Cara Fiore to Nitowski at shortstop and on to Maia Ferra at third to nab a Deer Lakes runner in the fifth.

Deer Lakes fell to 1-1 overall. It was the Lancers' first game in section play.

“All the credit goes to Burrell,” Deer Lakes coach Craig Taliani said. “They played a really solid game with good pitching, good hitting and good defense. We didn't make defensive plays when we needed to and weren't timely with our hitting. When you don't put those components together, things don't often turn out well.”

Hannah Mass drove in both runs for the Lancers with two-out singles in both the fourth and sixth innings. Deer Lakes stranded five runners in scoring position.

Taliani said there is no time for the players to sit around and fell sorry for themselves as they have games Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The Lancers begin that stretch at home against East Allegheny.

Deer Lakes hosts South Allegheny on Thursday before visiting Freeport on Friday.

Michael Love is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at mlove@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Mlove_Trib.

Tags: Burrell, Deer Lakes