By DEAN DELLAMALVA JR.
MVI Sports
Serra Catholic was patient and opportunistic in an 11-3 non-section victory over Greensburg Central Catholic Saturday at Renzie Park.
The Eagles (4-0) forced eight walks and cashed in thanks to two home runs and three doubles. It was more than enough for Serra pitcher Isabella Countryman, who went the distance and allowed three runs on 11 hits. She fanned 10 Centurion batters and issued a single walk to the first hitter of the game.
“I am really happy, with not playing last year we haven’t seen many of our players play,” Eagles coach Denny Willaman said. “We struggled a little yesterday against Brentwood. Today, I thought our girls bounced back. Bella pitched amazing and we got a lot of balls in play.”
Serra Catholic wasted little time getting the offense going. In the bottom of the opening inning, Caroline Malandra led off with a single and Lida Wos walked. With one out, Lexxie Fite blasted a deep drive over the left field fence, giving the home team a 3-0 advantage.
GCC pitcher MaKenzie Kennedy ran into big trouble in the third inning.
The first four batters she faced walked as she threw only four strikes, with Tori Tom getting the last walk to score Fite. Kennedy was lifted in favor of Emma Henry.
Olivia Gergely hit Henry’s second pitch to left for a double, scoring Countryman and Natalie Tom to give Serra a 6-0 lead.
Greensburg Central Catholic (2-2) got on the board in the top of the fourth. Isabella Marquez led off with a single and stole second. With one out, Henry squeaked a sharply hit ground ball past Wos at shortstop. Marquez came all the way around to score, making it 6-1.
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