Madison Haltom was dazzling in the circle and Pleasant Grove's offense rolled as PG stayed perfect in District 15-4A with a 10-1 win at Liberty-Eylau's Markham Park Tuesday.
The Lady Hawk ace, out the past week and a half with a sore shoulder allowed four base runners while striking out five in the first five innings. L-E got to her for four hits and run in the final two innings, but by then the damage was done.
"The rest did her some good," said Pleasant Grove coach Blake Worley. "She had a lot of velocity in the beginning. She lost a little at the end, but she wanted the ball. It was her call how long to stay in. She's a battler."
Pleasant Grove notched two runs in the first, three in the second and fourth and two more in the sixth to gradually pull away from the Leopards. Brette Wacha had two hits, two walks, two RBI and scored three runs to pace the PG attack. Clean-up hitter Kadijah Oritola went 3 for 3, drove in four runs and scored twice.
While PG gradually pulled away from Liberty-Eylau-starting five freshmen-stayed in the game with some solid defense. Catcher Savanna Phelps made three circus catches of wind-whipped pop-ups, and pitcher Summer Downs came up with clutch strikeouts and benefited from strong play on the left side of the infield to deny PG the big inning.
In fact, fundamentally sound defense was the order of the day. Combined, the teams had one error.
"Our defense is pretty solid," L-E Coach Todd Tipton said. "We just need to play more. We lost some games and tournaments to rain. The better pitchers we face the better we'll play."
Pleasant Grove broke on top early, when Oritola scorched a liner to the fence in right center to drive in Wacha and Kimmie Atienza, who had drawn walks.
PG loaded the bases in the second and got one run when Emily Hilton hit a smash that bounced off Downs' midsection. The senior managed to throw Hilton out at first, but Carley Barrett scored from third. Wacha followed with a single to deep right that brought in Madison, Allen, and Atienza.
The Hawks added three more in the fourth on an RBI single to bring in Oritola. Faith Lipham followed with a nicely executed hit-and-run play with a hot one-hopper that rolled all the way to the left field fence for a two-run double.
Oritola drove in Wacha again in the sixth and came home on a grounder to the right side by Kristen Key.
Downs led off the bottom of the sixth with a double to left and came in on a single over the bag at first by Mariah Coleman.
Pleasant Grove (14-1, 2-0) travels to Pittsburg Thursday. Liberty-Eylau (1-7, 0-2) hosts Paris Friday.
Pleasant Grove 230 302 0 - 10 9 0
Liberty-Eylau 000 001 0 - 1 7 1
Madison Haltom and Brette Wacha. Summer Downs and Savanna Phelps. WP-Haltom. LP-Downs.