ADNA — Third time’s a charm.
After being rained out two consecutive days, Adna was finally able to host Onalaska in a matchup that pinned the top two teams in the C2BL against each other. The contest wasn’t as close as it seemed it would be on paper, however, as the Pirates came away with a convincing 10-0 win.
“We really adapted pretty well today,” Adna coach Bruce Pocklington said. “We’re making progress.”
Small ball was the name of the game for the Pirates on Wednesday, as they dropped bunts and were active on the bases often.
Most of the havoc came in the fourth, when they reached on three bunt singles and stole four bases. Two of those steals came when Onalaska crashed for a bunt and left second base completely unattended.
“We’re gonna run the bases hard,” Pocklington said. “We’re gonna have to create runs. We’ve been working hard on that … We’re making progress.”
It wasn’t just the small ball that led to Adna’s success. Danika Hallom drilled an RBI triple in the second, Ava Simms ripped a one-hopper off the wall to center, and Kendall Humphrey doubled on another deep drive to center.
The Pirates (11-3, 6-0 C2BL) are down Karlee VonMoos and Brooklyn Loose from last year’s state title team, but they are still slugging nearly .650 through 14 games this season.
Onalaska mustered just one hit against Ava Simms, who struck out 12 and walked just one in five shutout innings.
“She was around the plate,” Pocklington said. “She got ahead of hitters, and that’s the key for her.”
The Loggers (9-7, 5-2 C2BL) also had a rough go of it in the field. In addition to struggling on bunt defense, they committed five errors.
“We gotta clean those up,” Teitzel said. “ We know how hard we need to crash and we weren’t. It’s things like that. They just gotta calm down and play like they know how.”
Pocklington knows that as the Pirates get into the postseason, they’ll start to see tougher pitching, similar to what they saw earlier in the season and against Lisa Liddell on Wednesday.
“We really adapted pretty well today,” Pocklington said. “Just gotta keep working hard and play smarter.”
With the win, the Pirates are now the only team in the C2BL with less than two losses, and they are a game and a half ahead of Toledo and Onalaska, two teams they have defeated.
Toledo has the tiebreaker over Onalaska thanks to its head-to-head win over the Loggers on March 29.
Both teams are back in action on Thursday, when Adna will host Napavine and Onalaska will host Morton-White Pass in a doubleheader.
