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New Bremen catcher Halle Kuenning tags out Marion Local's Camryn Swain trying for home after Kuenning picked her off third base in the third inning on Tuesday.
MARIA STEIN - New Bremen's Alayna Ross struck out 10 batters and held Marion Local to two hits, but Haley Everman was even better.
Everman struck out 12 and kept the Cardinals off the scoreboard to give the Flyers a 2-0 win in a Midwest Athletic Conference softball game on Tuesday.
She particularly shined with runners in scoring position, stranding a runner on third base in five separate innings.
"I don't know how many New Bremen left on base," Marion coach Mindy Feasel said, "but Haley came up with big strikeouts, big plays - easy plays, the one-hoppers right to us. We made those easy plays in big-time situations. So, couldn't be more proud of her."
After inducing a groundout back to the circle to strand Lydia Bushman in the first inning, Everman ran into trouble again in the second. Down 1-0, New Bremen (5-5, 0-1 MAC) got Mackenzie Barhorst to third with one out, but Everman struck out Adriana Heitkamp, Lucy Homan and Abby Homan to strand her.
In the fourth, Alayna Ross chopped a single over third baseman Allison Dirksen, and courtesy runner Alivia Dammeyer took two bases wild pitch with two outs, but again Everman struck out Heitkamp to escape unscathed.
New Bremen's Alivia Dammeyer slides safely into third base on a wild pitch as Marion's Allison Dirksen gets the throw in the fourth inning.
"Couldn't get bunts down, or couldn't get the ball in play," New Bremen coach Gary Moeder said. "That's the difference in the ballgame. Great job by both pitchers - can't say enough about how Alayna pitched today. We've just got to be able to support her a little bit better."
Olivia Thornton opened the sixth with a double to the wall in right-center, then took third base on the first pitch to Bushman. Everman needed just six pitches to strike out Bushman and Kuenning before Feasel sent Ross to first base with an intentional walk.
Bornhorst then lofted a fly ball to shallow right field, where Natalie Evers made the catch to end the inning.
"We faced Ansonia last night and didn't have any trouble putting the ball in play, so I didn't think we'd have much issue tonight," Moeder said. "She put it in places we didn't handle very well, so we'll be working on that tomorrow night in practice."
With the Cardinals down to their last gasp after Marion (4-5, 2-1 MAC) added a run in the top of the seventh, Homan worked a one-out walk, went to second on a groundout, and took off for third on Sarah Dwenger's slow grounder to shortstop. Dwenger was a step ahead of Hannah Rindler's throw for an infield single, keeping the game alive and bringing the go-ahead run to the plate.
Thornton hit another ground ball to Rindler, who made the throw in time for the final out.
"Knowing that they weren't just one swing away was nice," Feasel said. "Then we put a couple runners on, so that got my heart pounding a little bit. But we came up with the plays when we needed to."
Marion needed to play small ball to scratch across its two runs, with Everman providing her own support.
Marion Local's Haley Everman struck out 12 batters and stranded seven runners in a shutout win over New Bremen.
Rindler was hit on the foot by a pitch in the first inning, took second on a wild pitch, then raced home when Everman snuck a ground ball through the left side for a single.
In the sixth, Camryn Swain dropped a bunt in front of the plate and avoided a close play when the throw went past Bushman at first. Rindler then laid down a bunt of her own, and Ross' throw missed Bushman, allowing Swain to take third.
Everman then grounded out, bringing Swain in to score for valuable insurance.
"I think I told my girls at one point, 'Ross is making us look like fools,' " Feasel said with a laugh. "She had us guessing up there. Our game plan was to play as much small ball as possible, and finally it worked out in the sixth inning to get us that second run."
Both teams have MAC games Thursday. Marion travels to Fort Recovery while New Bremen hosts St. Henry.
