By JEFF OLIVER
MVI Sports
In its previous two games, Belle Vernon Area’s softball team was shut out twice – including a no-hitter – and managed two total hits while striking out a whopping 27 times.
Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon against host Frazier, the Leopards looked like a completely different team.
Playing against the perennial power Commodores, BVA banged out 13 hits and only struck out two times while posting an impressive 6-3 non-section victory.
“After the past two games, this was really nice to see,” said BVA coach Tom Rodriguez. “And it came against a quality team like Frazier. I’m just ecstatic, really.”
The Leps (4-3) were not retired in order all day until the seventh inning as they slapped the ball around against the Commodores (4-3). The game saw every player in BVA’s lineup collect at least one hit.
The key hitters for the winners were Grace Sokol and Maren Metikosh.
Metikosh got BVA on the scoreboard first when she smacked a two-run single to left field on the first pitch she saw from Frazier hurler Madison Bednar to give the Leopards a 3-0 lead in the second inning.
In the fifth, with the visitors clinging to a 3-2 lead, Sokol unloaded a three-run home run over the fence in center, also on the first pitch. For the day, Sokol also had a double and scored two runs to go with her three RBIs.
In the second inning, Sokol led off with a double to center. She moved up to third on a single by Ava Zubovic, who promptly stole second.
With runners on second and third and one out, Tara Callaway bunted for a single that loaded the bases.
Vanessa Porter went first-pitch swinging and singled to center to score a run. Metikosh followed with a first-pitch single to left that scored two to make it 3-0.
The Commodores were not about to go down quietly.
In the bottom of the third with Abby Scott on first after working a full count walk against BVA starter Talia Ross, Jensyn Hartman clubbed a two-run homer over the 207-foot mark in left-center to make it 3-2. Hartman’s blast was a liner that never got higher that 18-20 feet off the ground.
“That was a missile,” said her father and coach, Don Hartman watching his daughter’s first home run of the season.
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