H.S. Softball: Amherst starts fast, finishes, snaps skid

AMHERST — Even though Amherst and Midview combined for only three runs during their first matchup, Comets coach Lacey Reichert wasn't brimming with confidence when her team scored five times in the first inning of Thursday's Southwestern Conference rematch. "We told them when they came off the field, 'Girls, that's not going to be enough,'" Reichert said. "They're a good hitting team … that's what they do. They hit the ball hard. So when you jump on a team like that it takes more pressure off you but you can't let up, especially in this league." Midview did rally to tie the game, but Amherst scratched out a few more runs in the middle innings and held on for an 8-6 victory — avenging the 2-1 loss in Eaton Township earlier in the season. Reichert was asked what made the victory sweeter, beating a team that had hung a loss on the Comets or ending Amherst's three-game losing streak? "A little of both," she said. "I mean, the girls wanted this game. It's been eating at them for, what, three weeks now? But it was more important that we needed to win … it didn't matter the opponent. "We told the girls that we are in desperation mode right now. This almost felt like a do-or-die game, and when you get an opponent like Midview you have to play your absolute best because they're a great hitting team." The Comets exploded early as Nevaeh Sadler and Allie Jackson reached on back-to-back infield singles, Kristen Kelly drove in a run on a sacrifice fly and Makenna Dorobek blasted a three-run homer over the left-field fence. Amherst (9-4, 4-3 SWC) added a run when pinch runner Abigail Bertke scored on a fielding error. "(The home run) was so solid … I was like, 'Oh, that's gone,'" said Dorobek, who added a double in the fourth inning and a single in the fifth. "We needed to come out strong because if we got down, it'd be hard to get back up. I felt like I had to step up and score some runs, hit the ball solid and get on base as much as I could." The Middies (10-7, 5-3) answered quickly and emphatically. Freshman shortstop Olivia Keenan, the No. 9 hitter, blasted a three-run shot to left-center in the second, and senior catcher Lilly Armold drilled a two-run shot down the left-field line in the third to tie the game at 5. "Without a doubt, I think that our team has a good, solid hitting lineup from top to bottom and I've got some big hitters," Midview coach Cassie Haight said. "I know that they can put up the runs and we can put girls on bases, but it really is going to come down to defense with this team and that's an area we did not perform well today." The Middies finished with four errors, including two in the five-run first. Another came in the third and led to Jackson's RBI single through the right side that gave the Comets the lead for good. Amherst added insurance runs in the fourth off an Emma Nagy single through the left side and in the fifth when Sadler scored after a Midview infield throw skipped into the Comets dugout. Midview's last run came in the fifth when Armold hit her second home run of the game — a towering shot to left field. "When we have that many defensive errors and we're giving them four runs, we can't expect the outcome to be a win for us," Haight said. "(My players) put up some runs and they continued to compete, which is really good. But at this point I'm looking for some consistency going into tournament time. That's what I want our girls' mentality to be … to be the better team that wants to win, that wants to compete." The goals are similar for Reichert and the Comets. Now that they are back in the win column, the coach is looking for her players to start performing in all facets of the game, which they did Thursday night. "Our pitchers rely on their spots, their movement, their off-speed pitches — they're not necessarily strikeout pitchers," Reichert said. "So when other teams are putting the ball in play, we've got to make plays (on defense). We've had several games where we've booted the ball around and that's how you lose three games in a row. But today I thought we played really, really well defensively." Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on Twitter. Amherst 8, Midview 6 Midview &emsp;&emsp;ab r &emsp;&emsp;h &emsp;&emsp;bi&emsp;&emsp;Amherst &emsp;&emsp;ab r &emsp;&emsp;h &emsp;&emsp;bi O. DiFranco 4 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;2 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;Sadler 5 &emsp;&emsp;2 &emsp;&emsp;3 &emsp;&emsp;0 L. DiFranco 3 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;Jackson &emsp;&emsp;4 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;3 &emsp;&emsp;1 Armold &emsp;&emsp;4 &emsp;&emsp;2 &emsp;&emsp;2 &emsp;&emsp;3 &emsp;&emsp;Stottlemire 3 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;0 Tomasheski 4 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;Kelley 3 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;1 Willis 3 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;M. Dorobek 4 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;3 &emsp;&emsp;3 Stacey 0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;Sprague &emsp;&emsp;4 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;0 Ballachino 3 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;Nagy 3 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;1 Ruoff 3 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;Balek 2 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 Reisinger&emsp;&emsp;3 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;S. Dorobek 2 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 Keenan &emsp;&emsp;3 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;3 &emsp;&emsp;Thomas-Friend &emsp;&emsp;3 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 Farkas 0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;Bertke 1 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 Totals 30 6 &emsp;&emsp;8 &emsp;&emsp;6 &emsp;&emsp;Totals 34 8 &emsp;&emsp;13 6 Midview &emsp;&emsp;032 010 0 &emsp;&emsp;— &emsp;&emsp;6 &emsp;&emsp;8 &emsp;&emsp;4 Amherst &emsp;&emsp;501 110 x &emsp;&emsp;— &emsp;&emsp;8 &emsp;&emsp;13 1 2B — M. Dorobek. HR — Armold 2, M. Dorobek, Keenan. SF — Kelley. LOB — Midview 6, Amherst 11. &emsp;&emsp;IP H&emsp;&emsp;R&emsp;&emsp;ER BB SO Midview Willis (L)&emsp;&emsp;6 &emsp;&emsp;13 8 &emsp;&emsp;4 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;5 Amherst Sprague (W, 2-0)&emsp;&emsp;3 &emsp;&emsp;4 &emsp;&emsp;5 &emsp;&emsp;2 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;3 S. Dorobek (S, 1) 4 &emsp;&emsp;4 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;1 &emsp;&emsp;2 WP — Sprague 2. HBP — L. DiFranco (by Sprague), Nagy (by Willis), Stottlemire (by Willis).