Hometown Softball Recap for Baldwin Highlanders – 04/16/2015

By: Bruce Markey
Thursday, April 16, 2015 | 10:14 PM

Rachel Hankin and Rachel Albert hit back-to-back solo home runs in the 6th inning, lifting Bethel Park (5-3, 4-1) to a 2-1 win over Baldwin (5-1, 4-1) on Wednesday night at Baldwin High School.

The blasts were the lone blemishes for Highlanders’ pitcher and Pitt-Greensburg recruit Jamie Schleicher, who allowed just four hits and struck out eleven batters in the complete game loss.

Schleicher would retire the first eight Bethel Park batters, give up a single to Hankin in the 4th inning and then retire eight more batters in a row, before Hankin, the nine-hitter in the Blackhawks’ lineup, would launch a ball over the right field wall. Moments later, Bethel Park’s leadoff hitter, Albert, would follow up with a shot of her own over the center field fence.

Two runs would be all that Washington & Jefferson recruit and Bethel Park pitcher Taylor Andres would need. Baldwin would tally a run in the 6th inning on an infield single by Katie Knezevich, cutting the deficit to 2-1 and  would have a chance in the 7th inning to tie or win the game.

Katie Higgins would leadoff the 7th with a walk, be sacrificed to second base and then advance to third on a single by Taylor Dadig. But Andres would get Mallory O’Brien and Schleicher to bounce back to her in consecutive at-bats to end the game. Andres struck out six batters and allowed seven hits to the Highlanders, who left eight runners on base.

Knezevich went 2-for-2 with an RBI for Baldwin, while Hankin was the only Bethel Park player to reach base more than once.

The Highlanders will next be in action on Friday, as they battle Peters Township at 7pm on MSA Sports. Bethel Park was scheduled to take on Mount Lebanon Thursday afternoon in WPIAL AAAA Section 4 play.

Tags: Baldwin, Bethel Park