By Frank Rizzo
GRAHAMSVILLE — May 4, 2001 – Christina Winski outdueled Heidi Manell and the Tri-Valley bats awoke too late as Sullivan West/Jeff-Youngsville downed the host Lady Bears 8-7 in Grahamsville on Wednesday.
The visitors built up an 8-0 lead before Tri-Valley began to break out against Winski in the Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Division IV game..
Manell came into the game with a no-hitter and two-hitter in her last two starts, but was inconsistent in this outing.
The Trojans got two runs in the second on hits by Katrina Meyer and Tiffany Hauser (a triple) and a couple of errors and passed balls.
Winski led off the third by drawing a walk and Vanessa Meyer reached on an error. Both scored when Katrina Meyer doubled, and “Mini-Meyer” then scampered home on a single by Hauser to make it 5-0.
In the bottom of the frame Winski faced the dangerous Megan Sheeley with runners on second and third and two outs, and induced a hard shot to Shelisa Duquette at third to end the threat.
The visitors padded their lead in the fourth, loading the bases on Vanessa Meyer’s single, a walk, and an error. Sheeley gathered Hauser’s bouncer at second and fired home to Alesia Rexford to force Winski.
But then Manell’s control deserted her, and she walked two batters and hit another to send three more Trojan baserunners home.
In the fifth the Bears finally broke through. With the bases loaded, Sheeley singled hard down the left field line to score Lauren Dilberian and Emily Moore.
Moore opened the bottom of the seventh by reaching on an error, and promptly stole second. Lisa Sorrentino doubled to score Moore, and Dymond scored Sorrentino with a triple that dropped just out of reach of Leslie Bright’s glove along the right field foul line.
Dymond waltzed home when Sheeley singled, and the batter gained an extra base when the ball skipped past center fielder Kristen Erlwein.
Sheeley moved up and then scored when balls got past catcher Erin Bose, making the score 8-6.
Jessica Miller drew a walk, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch while Winski was striking out Julie Donovan and Heather Bachmann.
Manell helped her cause with an RBI single before Winski shut the door by inducing Rexford to hit back to her.
“We’re progressing nicely,” said SW/J-Y (6–1, 4–1 OCIAA) coach Mike Ellmauer. “Christina Winski is learning to pitch at the varsity level and our bats are coming around.”
He added: “We had a couple of good hits and a couple of good defensive plays, and that was the difference.”
Katrina Meyer and Tiffany Hauser each had two hits for the Trojans and Meyer added two RBI.
“Our bats didn’t come out of the bat bag today,” commented T-V coach Mary Feusner. “We didn’t have any kind of momentum until the final innings.”
Manell struck out eight but walked six and hit two batters.
“She wasn’t as sharp as she’s been,” Feusner said of her hurler, “and she threw more pitches than usual. But it wasn’t all her problems — we committed many errors behind her.”
Sheeley had two hits and three RBI to pace T-V (9–2, 3–1 OCIAA).