Malvern baseball girls dealt first loss by Leaside
It was a dynamite game from the outset as Malvern Collegiate and Leaside, two undefeated girls’ baseball teams, squared off for the first time this season.
Malvern had some solid defence on this day from the likes of Justine Marks and Alison Beamish in the outfield, but after a wild pitch and an RBI single from Meghan Ardies, they found themselves trailing 5-0 before their offence made some noise.
Getting Malvern on the board with a bases loaded two-run base rap was Emma Harvey, who cut the deficit to three and gave her squad a real shot in the arm.
However, refusing to ease up offensively, Leaside’s bats caught fire, as they put up two more runs on Lauren Morklinger’s third RBI of the game, and one from Nicole Clarke in what would turn out to be vital runs.
Leaside pitcher Amy Eberlin, a grade 10 athlete who can also handle a bat, racked up eight strikeouts. Helping her own cause, Eberlin also smacked a two-run homer and a stand-up triple. She showed lots of heart and determination in the final inning when Malvern flexed their muscles with the bats, scoring five runs against the rookie fireballer.
“I’ve seen other pitchers let the pressure get to them, but I just wanted to relax and make my pitches. We played them last year, and we knew that we had to be at our best,” said Eberlin.
Three outs away from remaining undefeated, Malvern made their opponents sweat as they got some clutch hits from their big bats before Leaside pitcher Amy Eberlin induced a fly ball for the final out in what turned out to be a 9-7 Leaside victory, handing Malvern their first loss.
“We had great defence all around and we almost pulled it off,” said Malvern catcher Abby Hume. “Everyone is confident and being focused is important. We didn’t give up. We just weren’t focused at the beginning.”