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Wilson, Field add 3 hits each; Strasser belts RBI triple
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
MONTICELLO — Bria Rensberger pitched her first career no-hitter to lead the Rochester softball team to a 13-0 rout in five innings over host Twin Lakes Friday.
Rensberger struck out 10 of the 17 batters she faced. Kaitlyn Whitaker flew out to Keyton Doran in center field in the fourth inning, and that marked the only time a Rochester outfielder touched the ball.
Myley Spriggs walked with one out in the fourth, and Cydney Wert walked with two outs in the fifth, but Twin Lakes never advanced a runner farther than first base.
“Bria was absolutely amazing,” Rochester freshman catcher Jadyn Field said of the pitcher that she has been catching since they were playing in 10-and-under travel ball. “No other words. Amazing.”
Meanwhile, freshman shortstop Aubrey Wilson had her second three-hit game in as many days, and she also drove in three runs. Wilson had two hits in the first inning, each of which drove in a run, and she added an RBI single in the fourth. Wilson had a hit to left, a hit to center and a hit to right.
“The sky’s the limit for her,” Rochester acting coach Scot Howdeshell said of Wilson. “She’s just a heck of an athlete.”
Field went 3 for 3 with two RBIs, including a leadoff triple in the second inning.
Brailyn Hunter had two hits and two RBIs, and Mylee Heinzmann and Darah Strasser each had a hit and an RBI. Makhia Harding also had an RBI.
Rochester did not strike out against Twin Lakes pitcher Myley Spriggs. They struck out 20 times in their previous three games combined.
Rochester sent 12 batters to the plate and scored eight times in the first inning.
Aubrey Miller led off with a walk and stole second. Wilson singled to left to score Miller, and when the throw in from the left fielder was wild for an error, she advanced to second.
Hunter followed with an RBI single to score Wilson, and Hunter advanced to second on the throw home. Field’s RBI single brought home Hunter to make it 3-0.
“She’s probably not the fastest that we’ve ever seen, but she was, like, the perfect speed to hit off,” Field said. “She was a little bit slower, and I’m used to some slower pitchers because I can’t hit off fast pitchers very much, so it was really nice.”
Field scored on Harding’s grounder to the pitcher. Meanwhile, Heinzmann walked, went to second and then third on a pair of grounders and scored on an error on a pickoff attempt.
Howdeshell walked with two outs and scored when Strasser, Rochester’s No. 9 hitter, triples in the right-center gap. When the cutoff throw was bobbled for an error, Strasser scored to make it 7-0.
Miller walked again, stole second and scored on Wilson’s RBI single.
Field tripled to deep right to lead off the second and scored on Heinzmann’s RBI single. Rensberger would later score in the inning on a wild pitch to make it 10-0.
Strasser was hit by a pitch, stole second, went to third on Miller’s grounder to second and scored on Wilson’s third RBI single of the game in the third.
Wilson stole second and scored when Hunter smoked a double over the right fielder’s head to make it 12-0. Hunter advanced to third when Twin Lakes bobbled another cutoff throw, and Field singled her in.
“The girls have been hitting the ball well,” coach Howdeshell said. “We got them to go in the spots where it wasn’t going before.”
Rochester improved to 4-6. They had lost three in a row this week, all at home, in which they had yielded 28 runs.
Coach Howdeshell said the coaching staff wants to monitor Rensberger’s workload to avoid burnout later in the season. Mia Howdeshell and Hunter have also seen time in the circle. Mia Howdeshell threw 96 ⅔ innings last year, and no other pitcher threw more than 24 innings.
“We can’t burn one pitcher out,” coach Howdeshell said. “We had that problem last year. Mia pitched about every game, so we have a luxury of having three pitchers, so we’re going to utilize them.”
Twin Lakes dropped to 1-9. They have been shut out four times.
Rochester 13, Twin Lakes 0 (5 innings)
Rochester 823 00 – 13 10 0
Twin Lakes 000 00 – 0 0 3
WP – Bria Rensberger (5 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 10 K)
LP – Myley Spriggs (5 IP, 10 H, 13 R, 11 ER, 6 BB, 0 K)
2B – Brailyn Hunter (RHS)
3B – Jadyn Field (RHS), Darah Strasser (RHS)
