By Rob Potter
LIVINGSTON MANOR — May 11, 2001 – Manor pitcher Alys Mann kept the Sullivan West/Delaware Valley batters off balance and her teammates backed her with plenty of run support Wednesday afternoon.
That resulted in an 11-2 victory for Livingston Manor (7–2, 5–1 OCIAA) in the OCIAA Division V softball game.
Mann allowed only two hits and struck out six to improve her record to 4-1 on the season.
The Lady Wildcats were hitting often, however.
“It wasn’t just a couple of people, everyone was hitting for us,” Manor coach Gail Denman said.
Leading the hit parade were third baseman Amanda Irwin and shortstop Stephanie Babich. Irwin went 3-for-4 at the plate and had two RBI. She also scored three of the Lady Wildcat runs.
Babich added a triple and three RBI.
Denman also praised her squad’s defensive effort.
“Amanda grabbed a couple of balls that could have been extra base hits,” she said. “And (catcher) Rocky (Rachelle Irwin) did a good job blocking the plate on low pitches. All in all it was a good day for us.”
SW/DV coach John Meyer felt that the Manor offensive production made the difference in the contest.
“They just hit the ball today,” Meyer said. “When they had opportunities to score some runs they got the hits they needed and we didn’t. Their hits were some of the hardest off of (pitcher) Christina (Head) all year.”
One of the best chances SW/DV (5–5, 4–3 OCIAA) had to narrow the Manor lead came in the top of the sixth.
With one out and one runner on base, Ashley Wagner and Kate VanWagenen hit back-to-back singles to load the bases. Calley Sander then hit a grounder to Amanda Irwin, who threw the ball home to catcher Rachelle Irwin and force out Erika Long, who was running from third base.
Mann then got Alicia Peters to ground out to end the Lady Eagle scoring threat.
Lady Eagle first baseman Megan Moran reached base with two outs in the top of the seventh when she was hit by a Mann pitch. But Mann got the next batter, Long, to hit a pop fly in the infield to end the contest.