When a good pitcher is throwing well, teams need to capitalize on opportunities to both score and limit runs.
Homewood-Flossmoor softball didn’t do that in a SouthWest Suburban Conference game against Bradley-Bourbonnais April 15, and pitcher Lydia Hammond led the Boilermakers to an 8-0 win.
“We didn’t do enough (to prevent) momentum shifts,” Vikings coach Larry Dawson said. “You can’t give them anything because they have a great pitcher.”
Hammond, a Loyola commit, struck out 11 and allowed two hits over six innings. Abbie Hofbauer threw a perfect seventh to finish things.
“Lydia’s a great pitcher, no doubt,” Vikings senior Kathleen Karner said. “There were definitely some momentum shifts on defense that could’ve helped us at the plate. At the end of the day, she was a great pitcher and we just weren’t hitting.”
H-F (8-5, 2-3) did have chances to stem the Bradley-Bourbonnais offense. A catchable first-inning foul ball hit the turf. A potential throw to cut down a runner wasn’t in time.
The extra outs allowed the Boilermakers (12-4, 1-3) to score a pair of runs in each of the first, third, fourth and seventh innings. Bristol Schriefer was three for four with three RBIs and a run.
When H-F did put a good swing on the ball, it always seemed to be right at the defense. Izzy Thurman lined out to second base with a runner on third to end the first inning. She lined out again to shortstop to finish the fourth frame. McKenzie Weber had the Vikings’ first hit when she singled to start the fifth but Dakota Hoekstra’s solid contact in the next at bat resulted in a fly out to center field.
“We’ve been leaving people on base like crazy right now. That’s actually been a problem for us,” Dawson said. “I just told them I’m not upset. We’ve just got to fix some things defensively and when people are on base, we got to get them around. We have to get people around.”
The Vikings defense did have moments in the game, though.
Shortstop Demi Chaney made a couple of highlight reel plays, diving to stop Alayna Sykes’ bouncer up the middle and get the out. She also pulled off a 6-3 double play in the second inning.
“Demi’s playing really well. I told her ‘Your defense is great. Keep going, you’re hitting going to come,’” Dawson said. “Everything we do, she practices hard and it shows on the field.”
The game was in the middle of a stretch of six games in 10 days for H-F. It would turn around and play Oak Lawn the next day.
“I’m still 100% confident in myself and this team. I think today was just a little bit of a fluke,” Karner said. “We are playing a really tough schedule right now. Some of the girls are pretty run down so taking care of our bodies outside of the field will only help us on the field.”
