IN THE CIRCLE — Oak Glen pitcher Danica Holden delivers during Saturday’s doubleheader at Williamstown. - Jay Bennett
WILLIAMSTOWN — No. 5 Class AA Oak Glen rolled into town Saturday afternoon and left with a twinbill sweep of Williamstown by scores of 12-1 and 8-0, both in five innings.
The 14-6 Golden Bears of head coach Sherrie Garner, who head to Myrtle Beach next week, batted around in the top of the first in game one, pushed across nine runs and never looked back.
In game two, junior right-hander Dani Holden fired a one-hit shutout with seven strikeouts as the Golden Bears invoked the mercy rule playing as the home team when leadoff hitter Marleah Lough reached on an infield single and eventually scored the final run of the afternoon via a wild pitch.
“That’s the reason why they are on our schedule and we want to get a taste of it. We also wanted to get our young girls to see what a good team looks like,” admitted WHS boss Ron Stanley of the now 6-10 ‘Jackets getting to know new regional foes.
“It was hard for us to get the ball out of the infield there in the second game so that kind of hurt us and they weren’t going to make many errors.”
Holden, who made a diving web gem toward home plate where she scuffed her knee after making a fully-extended grab on a popped bunt by Gracie Rush for the second out of the fourth, struck out the first four and fanned seven the first time through the order.
“We play three doubleheaders and a single. I’ve got a lot of pitchers. We took a group before in 2019 and it was nice,” coach Garner said of going to the beach. “It gives them an opportunity to play and have some fun and have some family time. It’s supposed to be 70. Seeing a new section and stuff and having the opportunity to come here and see regional opponents was our plan, just to see what the competition is like and give us new experiences.
“We’re competing with the OVAC as well. Moving down to double-A we certainly have some competition ahead of us. We want to win sectionals, win regionals and take this group to state.”
The first base runner for the Yellowjackets came via a one-out walk in the second by Kiersten Kerby. The only other ‘Jacket to reach base against Holden was third baseman Nevaeh Moore, who had an infield single with one out in the fifth, but was erased when she was caught stealing by Alex Watkins.
Oak Glen two-hole hitter Mikalyn Balch reached on a one-out error in the bottom of the first, stole second and went to third on a passed ball, but was tagged out by catcher Shayle Montgomery after she tried to score on a wild pitch.
Nonetheless, coach Garner’s program got the only run they ended up needing when Mattie Carney walked and scored on Holden’s RBI double to left.
Losing pitcher Alyssa Clare got out of a second and third, one-out, situation in the second when Lough hit a shot into center field, but Kyla Myer came up firing for an inning-ending 8-2 double play.
Balch walked to open the third and although Clare got the next two outs, her command left and five walks followed before Lough’s two-run single to center made it 6-0. Balch tried to keep the inning going after batting around with runners on second and third, but Rush made a running catch.
Carney doubled and scored in the fourth on a wild pitch to get the Golden Bears within a run of the mercy rule.
“We basically have the same core as we did last year,” added coach Stanley. “We lost Ava Johnson who was the only senior so we have a freshman starting now at shortstop in Gracie Rush.
“We have grown a lot since last year, but it’s the same group of girls. There’s only so much growing you can do with our limited practices. We have six wins so far and last year we only had two all season. You look at it that way, it’s a plus.”
Watkins reached base all three times. She was plunked in the first and drew a pair of free passes. Courtesy runner Riley Bruce scored once and stole a pair of bags.
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