Perryville softball coach Dave Ruark didn't pretend it was just another game. Then the Panthers went out and played like it was important. Emily Phillips carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning and Carly White belted a three-run homer as the Panthers upended county, conference, and region rival Bohemia Manor 8-2 Wednesday afternoon. "I definitely didn't give the girls the old line, 'this is just like every other game' because I would be lying to them and they would know that," said Ruark. "Bo Manor, they got us twice last year. They're a good, quality team. And to go where we want to go, they're a huge obstacle. We have a lot of respect for their ability to play so, yeah, it was more than just the third game of the season. This was a big win for us." It was also a big game for Phillips, who broke her collarbone last summer and was sidelined for the spring and winter sports seasons. "This was an important game because it was Bo Manor," Phillips said. "They beat us last year so we wanted to prove to them we're in it this year. My collarbone, it has been a struggle, but, yeah, I had to prove that I was back." Ahead 2-0, Perryville busted the game open with six runs in the top of the sixth, capped by White's wallop. Ashley Meekins ignited the uprising with a single to right and Lydia Hill was hit by a pitch. Mara Little laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners. Jordyn Reese recorded an RBI when the shortstop fielded her grounder and threw low and late to the plate. Amber Keene bounced back to the pitcher, who tried to catch the runner off third but threw wildly to make it 4-0. Ellen Little walked to load the bases and Katelyn Griffin delivered a sacrifice fly. White followed with a shot over the left field fence. "I just wanted to hit the ball in play, I wanted to get it in the grass and get a run in," White said. "I didn't expect it. The wind helped me out a little bit…It felt good. It felt good." The only drama that remained was whether Phillips could finish a no-hitter. After an uneventful sixth, Bohemia Manor's Anna Tidaback led off the home half of the seventh with a clean single between the second baseman and first baseman. Elle Meyer followed with a single in the same spot to put runners on the corners. After an out, Megan Horsey knocked in a run with a ground out to spoil the shutout bid. Morgan Mullin plated a run with an RBI single. Although there was no no-hitter and no shutout, it was a meaningful performance by Phillips. "She's doing a much better job of really mixing it up, throwing her changeup to where she's not allowing [opponents] to adjust. That's what it comes to," Ruark said. "She's throwing her changeup early in the count. She's getting ahead a lot more. She's making the opponent beat us which is what we want. We have a solid defense and we've been putting it to use all year. She's hitting the zone. That's the biggest thing for her. Last year, her opponents' batting average was under .200, but there were times where she was her own worst enemy. They'd get timely hits. We'd make a critical error here or there and it just kind of never jelled together. Now, we're getting timely hits with two outs. We're not giving out free passes. We're not making errors defensively so we're really making the opposing teams beat us. That's the biggest thing. Em, she's working hard and mixing it up, so she looks great right now." Perryville provided Phillips with a lead before she threw a pitch. Amber Keene led off the game with a single to center which caromed off the tip of the shortstop's glove. Ellen Little then walked. After an out, White drilled an RBI single to left. Bohemia Manor got two runners aboard in the bottom half on a walk and error, but Phillips wriggled out of the jam by inducing a pop to third. "I warmed up extra early to make sure all my pitches were warm because I knew this was a big game for Perryville because Perryville and Bo Manor have been rivals for a long time and it's been back and forth so I just had to trust my pitches and trust my defense," Phillips said. The Panthers added a run in the fourth. Meekins reached on an infield single and advanced a base on a Hill bunt. Meekins moved up a base on Mara Little's fly ball to right and scored on a wild pitch. Perryville put the game away with the six-run explosion in the sixth. "Right now, I'm still trying to find out what the best lineup going forward is," Ruark said. "The girls are just kind of taking turns. We had several hits from our 6, 7, 8, 9 hitters. They really started a few big innings, and [there were] a few key Bo Manor mistakes. I don't think we had 10 hits. I don't think we had a lot of hits, but at the same time we're having it seems like two baserunners almost every inning. The opportunities are there and you give us that many opportunities we're going to get in our fair share of runs because the girls are poised this year. This isn't the new group that's together like it was last year, where they were all first-year varsity players or a lot of them just didn't have that experience. They're confident and they're comfortable. You keep giving us the baserunners and hopefully we'll continue to put the pressure on the other team. I know Bo likes to bunt, they like to steal. They can play small ball. They can play big ball. Now, I don't think we're as dynamic of a team where we do a lot of the bunting, stealing. But when we get up like we did, we take away a lot of the things they do well, which puts things in our edge. Things just went our way early and that's the way it's happened so far this year. But the UCBAC, the Chesapeake Division, is brutal. We've got a lot of tough teams to face. Like I told the girls, we've got a little bit of a target on out back now. We were kind of under the radar. We're not anymore." Comments are closed.
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