By Rob Potter
LIBERTY — Marissa Diescher used her pitching arm and her bat on Saturday morning to lead the Livingston Manor Lady Wildcats to an 11-1 win against the Sullivan West Lady Bulldogs in a Benny Chesnick Memorial Softball Tournament game at Liberty High School.
In the pitcher’s circle, Diescher struck out 14 batters, walked none and gave up only one hit. At the plate, the sophomore went 5-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs scored.
Diescher began her perfect day at the plate with an RBI double in the top of the first inning.
Christine Babich had an RBI single and Kym Potter had a sacrifice bunt later in the frame as Manor took a 5-0 lead.
The Lady Wildcats scored four times in the top of the second. The key hit in the frame was Diescher’s two-run double.
Manor (4-1) added a run in the top of the fifth. With one out, Emily Casey singled to center field and Diescher singled to left field.
Casey scored when Britt Fredenburg grounded out to shortstop.
The Lady Wildcats scored their final run of the game in the top of the seventh. With one out, Diescher, Fredenburg and Babich all hit singles to load the bases. Diescher then scored on a passed ball to extend Manor’s lead to 11-0.
SW (2-3) recorded its only hit and its lone run in the bottom of the seventh.
Gabrielle Humleker led off and hit a dribbler up the third base line.
She sprinted to first base, just beating the throw to first baseman Casey. Humleker stole second base and then advanced to third base on a wild pitch.
Humleker scored seconds later on another wild pitch.
But Diescher struck out the next two batters to end any hopes the Lady Bulldogs had of a comeback victory.
In addition to Diescher, Babich and Casey paced the Lady Wildcats’ offense, which registered 17 hits. Babich, a sophomore, and Casey, a junior, each went 3-for-5 at the plate. Babich had two RBIs, while Casey scored three runs and had one RBI.
“We hit the ball well today,” Manor Co-Coach Charlie Hicks said. “We got runners on base and then got hits to bring them in to score.
“It was a total team effort,” Hicks added. “Marissa [Diescher] pitched a great game. Defensively we played very well behind her.”
In addition to giving up those 17 hits, the Lady Bulldogs committed four errors.
“We are just not firing on all cylinders,” SW Coach Mike Ellmauer said. “We had a tough game against Goshen yesterday when we didn’t score any runs. We struggled today. We were only going on about three or four cylinders.”
Notes: The Lady Bulldogs and Lady Wildcats each played the Liberty Lady Indians in other Benny Chesnick Memorial Tournament games on Saturday.
Manor defeated Liberty, 16-0, and SW topped the Lady Indians, 16-12.
In Manor’s win against Liberty (0-7), Diescher allowed just one hit.
Angela Zayas and Casey led the Lady Wildcats’ offense in the game. Zayas went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and two RBIs. Casey was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBIs.
Rebecca Scherer had the Lady Indians’ only hit off of Diescher.
Lindsay Bauer paced the Lady Bulldogs’ offense in the team’s victory against Liberty. She went 3-for-6 and scored four runs.
Scherer led the Lady Indians with a single, a double and two runs scored.