By RYAN WALKER
When it rains, it pours, and South Adams made a splash early to defeat the Bluffton Tigers on the softball diamond Thursday night.
It was the first game of the ACAC season for both clubs, and the No. 9 in 2A Starfires (6-1, 1-0 ACAC) made it count in a 14-2 win in six innings.
South Adams opened the contest with a three-run blast to deep centerfield from catcher Sofia Schwartz, who hit the first of three home runs in the game. Then, after Bluffton (3-4, 0-1 ACAC) starting pitcher Madyson Sonnigsen responded with a 1-2-3 second inning, South Adams put up seven runs in the third.
The first six batters reached base, and the speed of Macy Pries (Lake Land College commit), Shea Alberson and Bekah Peterson carouseled around the bases. The trio combined for three stolen bases by that point, and were driven in by Alberson’s double, Patterson’s single, and Avery Brown’s single. A walk with the bases loaded and a sacrifice fly finally ended the dreadful third for the Tigers at a 1-0 score.
“One through nine, it’s a solid lineup,” Bluffton head coach Tyler Sonnigsen said. “Probably the best team we’re going to see all year and not just by a little bit, I mean, a substantial amount and there’s really no weaknesses on their defense.”
“I try to tell our kids that we want to go create chaos on the base paths and get bounced down steal bases,” South Adams head coach Jessie O’Dell said. “It’s no secret that’s what we like to do. But when we can hit bombs like that, then it opens up the bunt. When we can bunt, then it opens up when we can throw strikes and we can hit, so it’s definitely a major contribution. I mean, they both work well together.”
Madyson Sonnigsen’s counterpart on the mound was dealing. Addie Baker, who entered the game with a 1.79 ERA in six appearances, mowed down Bluffton’s lineup one by one.
In Baker’s four innings, the junior held the Tigers scoreless and picked up her fifth win of the season, allowing only three bases runners in the game, one being an infield bunt single from Averi Petty. She finished with eight strikeouts and only one walk.
“She is great,” Tyler Sonnigsen said of Baker. “Taking nothing away from Baker — She kept us off balance through the first three innings, and after that, she didn’t have to really throw too much of a changeup. She was just throwing the ball by us. Location, location, location, and we just didn’t adjust.”
All of Bluffton’s damage was done in the fifth inning when O’Dell brought in his other starting pitcher Gracie Bixler.
The Tigers immediately had success: Madison Smith and Petty picked up base hits and later scored on Marly Drayer’s sacrifice fly and Tyrah Shaw’s infield single. That placed the score at 10-2, and the inning ended with Madyson Sonnigsen and Konley Ault going deep to centerfield, but the speed of Patterson halted any harm.
“(We) started putting hits together a little too late,” Tyler Sonnigsen said. “You’ve got to hit the ball sooner. I mean, one through four innings and then coming alive in the fifth, we’re not going to win too many ball games.”
Madyson Sonnigsen held the Starefires in check during the fourth and fifth innings, going back-to-back times without allowing a baserunner. She allowed a leadoff double to Brown and got taken out for Shaw out on the mound to end her start.
That would lead into a four-run sixth inning, capitalized by a two-run shot by Patterson and a solo one by Tessa Bernard. Bernard’s tallied the Starfires’ 10th home run of the season.
Bluffton will be at Oak Hill at 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 19.
ryan@news-banner.com
