Alexa Hopper's Bohemia Manor softball teammates and coaches bestowed her with the ironic nickname "Junkyard" because they worried the sophomore lefty pitcher was too nice. Perryville didn't find Hopper so delightful Friday afternoon. Hopper hurled 5 2/3 innings of three-hit ball to earn the victory as the undefeated Eagles downed the host Panthers 3-0. Shortstop Anna Tidaback explained that Hopper's moniker was designed to encourage more of a "hardcore" mentality in the circle.
That approach was evident. Getting the start instead of fireballing sophomore Maddie Penta, Hopper challenged the Perryville hitters and won nearly every battle. "We're fortunate to have two really good pitchers," Bohemia Manor coach Russ Morgan said. "And we needed Alexa to step up today and throw. She threw Tuesday against Edgewood and then she closed the game [Thursday]. She got an inning in. So we decided to start her [Friday against Perryville] and she had good location. She was able to get some good pitches on the black, which is where you want to live. You don't want to get it over the middle. She gave up three hits. Giving up three hits to a really good Perryville team, you're throwing quite well." While adopting the junkyard mindset when pitching, Hopper was humble following the game. "For me, all around, we have Maddie (Penta) also for pitching so if anything goes wrong she can come in," Junkyard said. "Defense has been great, just fielding everything, and then the bats just coming around constantly. So for me, it helps out a lot. I don't really have to worry about stuff because I have the entire team there." Hopper and Perryville's Mara Little engaged in a pitcher's duel before Bohemia Manor broke through in the top of the sixth. Aubrey Heath got things started with an infield single. Tidaback then drilled a shot over the head of the right fielder. Heath easily scored the game's first run but Tidaback was thrown out at the plate. "I've been struggling up at the plate and I talked to my coach about it and he said there was just too much going through my mind [and to] trust my hands," Tidaback said. "When I hit that ball, right before that pitch [I thought] 'I just need to trust my hands. I just need to trust that I know what to do' and I just threw my hands out there and I came clutch, apparently." After Melinda Morgan reached on an error, Penta singled up the middle. Following the second out of the inning, Lexi Bolton singled to left to load the bases. The next batter, Abigail Heath, blooped a two-run single to left-center to extend the lead to 3-0. That was more than enough for an Eagles team that has not yet allowed a run. "It was looking like it was going to be an ITB (International Tiebreaker Rule) game or 1-0 game," Perryville coach Dave Ruark said. "They were fast innings, moving along. They just happened to bunch up their hits in one inning, which is what you need to do. It was a little bit of a letdown. When a team like that gets three runs, you know you're up against it, because if you get something going, they've got their ace they can go to. We wanted to be that first team to at least get a run off them, but they're playing unbelievable ball right now." Hopper retired the first two batters in the bottom of the sixth before Amber Keene singled for her second hit of the day. Penta picked up the save by striking out all four batters she faced. "Their lefty located great," Ruark said. She worked her spots. Ump was kind of giving her that outside-half [of the plate], which is right where she wanted to work, and she pitched to contact, pitched to a lot of weak contact, and we kind of took our foot off the accelerator a bit in the last three innings where we went down looking a lot, but other than that, we were aggressive, gave it what we could. But we've got to get more hits, get more runs on the board, and give us more opportunity to see their best." For his part, Morgan isn't going to be distracted from the ultimate goal of trying to win a second straight state title. "[Every pitch] probably does matter to [the players]," he said. "To me, I'm thinking it's the fourth game of four games in this week. We've got four games next week. I'm kind of trying to keep it in perspective. We've got a long grind ahead of us, but, yeah, when you're playing tight games and you're not breaking through, and we had some opportunities where things didn't go just right. They played some really good defense and Mara (Little) was throwing well, hitting her spots well. [The pressure] does seem to ratchet because you start paying attention to we have three more at bats or two more at bats or whatever. I would agree. It ratchets up a bit but what do you expect?" Morgan wasn't sure what to expect Friday. "We played Bel Air on Wednesday and then we went out to Winters Mill, which is a two-hour ride, out and back, and I was worried that we'd be a little sluggish" said Morgan. "But the girls weren't. It was a good week for us. We've won games both ways already this year. We've won games out front where you play out front, you score early. We've won games where you get a couple runs early and you hold on to them for the whole game. And we've been in games now where it's nothing-nothing, nothing-nothing, nothing-nothing, then you plate. It's nice to get that different type of game experience against good teams and we had all of that this week." Bohemia Manor has shown a propensity for coming up with clutch late rallies, but Tidaback says the Eagles would like to make things easier for themselves. "It is a habit," the shortstop said. "It is a bad habit. We're trying to fix it. We're trying to get runs earlier, especially to help Maddie, take the pressure off of Maddie, but we're always going to come through with it. We always end up on top. We know that's like the thing we do." Perryville 11, North East 4 Hanna Downes went 3 for 3 with three RBIs and scored a run for the Panthers. Jordyn Reese belted a three-run homer and added a double while reaching base four times. Ellen Little, Mara Little, Amber Keene, and Nicole DiGiambattista each recorded a pair of hits. Hannah Gordon tossed four innings to earn the win. 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