Bald Eagle Area softball coach Curt Heverly made all the right moves in Thursday’s 7-2 win over Juniata in a District 6 Class AA first round game.
He switched Dallis Dillon from hitting in the ninth spot to the third place in the lineup. She delivered a pair of hits, including a two-run triple in the sixth inning that broke the game open.
In the fifth, he elected to pinch hit Megan Kresovich for Logan Fischer in the cleanup spot and she had an RBI double, stole a base and scored a run. Also in that inning, he had Moreta Dyke hit for Mikala Smith and she singled, stole second and scored on Kresovich’s double.
“Last night I was looking at the lineup and I saw we had two fast girls at the top of the lineup (Haley Giedroc and Smith) and I figured why not have three,’’ he said of his decision to move Dillon up in the order. “It worked out well there in the sixth inning.’’
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Before that, the Lady Indians were hanging close to BEA.
They scored the first run of the game in the first inning when Hannah Welfley opened with a single, went to second on a sacrifice and scored on an error.
BEA overcame that in the second when Morgan Peters rapped a one-out single, moved to second on an error on Morgan Nyman’s grounder and both scored on a single by Makenzie Proctor.
The Lady Eagles gave Sidney Shultz a three-run cushion when they got to Autumn Day for two runs in the fifth. Dyke led off the with a single to right and stole second. One out later Kresovich doubled into the right-center gap to score Dyke. She stole third and scored on Peters’ single.
“Dyke had a key hit there,’’ said Heverly. “And Kresovich gave us a three-run lead with her hit.’’
But it wasn’t until the Lady Eagles scored three more runs in the sixth that Heverly could breathe easier and those runs all came with two outs. Giedroc singled and Smith got aboard on an error. Dillon then tripled to the fence in left-center to score both runners. Fischer singled Dillon home with the final run.
“I got a perfect pitch, right down the middle and I knew we had runners on so I had to hit the ball,’’ said Dillon. “My last at-bat wasn’t so good (strikeout) so I had to make up for that.’’
She didn’t find out she had been moved up in the battng order until just before game time.
“They read off the batting order and when they said I was hitting third I turned around an looked at one of the assistant coaches,’’ she said. “She said yes, I was batting third. I had been working on my hitting and it was nice to see it improve and for the coaches to see that. ’’
“We had heard their pitcher threw some slurvy-type stuff that would come right in to Dallis (a lefthander), and she’d be able to see it,’’ Heverly explained. “That paid off.’’
Juniata wouldn’t go away quietly, getting a run in the seventh and putting runners on first and second with two outs before Josie Swartz hit a fielder’s choice to Giedroc, who stepped on second for the final out.
“They have a nice team’’ Heverly said of Juniata. “Their shortstop (Welfley) is tough. They played a good game. But in the sixth Morgan Peters and Makenzie Proctor started to pick it up. The bottom of the order is starting to hit better. We thought we’d be solid throughout the lineup and now we’re starting to see that.
“We started to relax once we got ahead 4-1 and we started to hit the ball although most of those hits came later in the game. But I thought our defense played solid and Sidney did a heck of a job. This was a good game for us to play.’’
BEA will play Central Monday at 4 p.m. at Milesburg. Central beat Cambria Heights 3-2 Thursday.
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