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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Molly Schanepp allowed two runs over 6 ⅓ innings, and Paxton Baker’s two-out, two-run triple highlighted a four-run seventh as the Manchester softball team beat Rochester 6-2 at Fansler Field Wednesday.
Aubrey Miller, Makhia Harding and Darah Strasser had two hits each for Rochester. Jadyn Field and Aubrey Wilson each had an RBI.
Rochester committed four errors and had four runners retired on the bases.
Manchester improved to 7-6 overall and 3-0 in the Three Rivers Conference. Rochester fell to 5-7, 1-2.
Rochester attempted to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth. Trailing 2-1 and with Bria Rensberger on second, Harding grounded a single to center field, but Allie Egolf charged the ball and threw out Rensberger trying to score.
Manchester then got their insurance in the seventh.
With one out, Karsyn Kampheus’ short pop-up dropped on the infield, which resulted in an infield single. She went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Schanepp’s RBI single.
One out later, Ava Sautter singled, moving Schanepp to second. Baker then hit a towering fly to the fence in right-center to score Schanepp and Sautter.
Elizabeth Renz’s infield single scored Baker to make it 6-1.
In the bottom of the seventh, Schanepp hit Mia Howdeshell with a pitch, and Darah Strasser’s dribbler down the first baseline resulted in an infield single. Aubrey Miller’s bunt single loaded the bases, and Schanepp then hit Wilson with a pitch to force in Howdeshell and make it 6-2.
Manchester coach Todd Volk replaced Schanepp with Egolf.
Egolf threw one pitch. Brailyn Hunter scorched it down the third baseline, but Hadley West went to her knees to catch it and touched third base with her glove for an unassisted double play to end the game.
Schanepp walked two and hit three batters, but only one of those five baserunners came around to score. The three hit batters might have been a byproduct of Schanepp trying to repeatedly jam Rochester’s hitters on the hands.
“Once we got through the lineup the first time, we did adjust,” Rochester coach Jim Coleman said. “We had the girls choke up a little bit more to fight off that inside pitch. Even though she didn’t have a lot of control, she was getting inside on our right-handed batters. Even the balls that we were hitting, they weren’t hit very hard. So once we adjusted there, we started hitting the ball hard. Unfortunately, a lot of them were at their defense.”
Manchester scored an unearned run off Rensberger in the third to take a 1-0 lead.
No. 9 hitter Samantha Shock reached second when her hot grounder to third was booted for an error, and when the throw to try and get her at second was wild for another error, she advanced to third.
Sautter’s looping liner to left was only trapped by Hunter and went for an RBI double.
Miller singled for Rochester’s first hit with one out in the third, but Wilson grounded into a forceout, and Hunter grounded to Baker at short.
Harding singled with two outs in the fourth, but Egolf threw her out trying to stretch it into a double.
“Defensively, they made some plays against us,” Coleman said. “We made some mistakes on the basepaths at key points of the game. Great play at the end there … the third baseman made that snag and dropped right on third base, but I liked how we continued to fight. Manchester has a very solid shortstop (Baker). She made a lot of good plays.
“But overall, we didn’t hit the ball well enough at key times to keep the inning moving.”
Strasser tripled over Shock’s head to deep left in the fifth with Strasser beating a bang-bang play at third on a slide.
But Miller lined to short to end the inning.
Baker’s speed impacted the top of the sixth. She was hit by a pitch and went all the way to third on a grounder to shortstop. West then flew out to left. Hunter made a running catch moving to her right, but Baker tagged up and scored on the sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.
Wilson singled to start the sixth, and Manchester then committed their first defensive miscue. Hunter grounded to third, but West’s throw was late to try and force Wilson at second, and when the relay throw to first was wild, Wilson advanced to third.
Renz threw out Hunter trying to steal second with Wilson holding at third. Rensberger was hit by a pitch, which brought up Field.
Lady Z notes
Coleman returned to the Rochester dugout for the first time since a forfeit loss to Logansport on April 10 in which both he and assistant coach David Musselman were ejected. Musselman was not present Wednesday. Asked when Musselman would be back, Coleman said “soon” but declined to elaborate.
Rochester will travel to Class 2A, No. 5 Bremen at 5:30 p.m. Friday. They will also travel to Jimtown for a six-team tournament Saturday. Rochester will face Jimtown at 8:30 a.m. and Peru at 11 a.m. in pool play. If they win those two, they will play in the championship game at 4:30 p.m.
Manchester 6, Rochester 2
Manchester 001 001 4 – 6 7 1
Rochester 000 001 1 – 2 7 4
WP – Molly Schanepp (6 ⅓ IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 HBP, 2 K)
LP – Bria Rensberger (7 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 5 K)
2B – Ava Sautter (MAN)
3B – Jackson Baker (MAN), Darah Strasser (RHS)
