Hampshire pitcher Haley Widmayer rode out a brief rocky patch Friday early in her one-hit, nine-strikeout performance against Elgin. And she knew right where to lay the blame.
“There are times when my arm just won’t cooperate,” Widmayer said. “But I worked through it.”
With Widmayer dealing and her teammates hitting the ball hard, Elgin had a short, rough day at The Dome in Rosemont. Hampshire had 14 hits in winning 11-1 over the Maroons in five innings.
Peyton DeChant, Aly Snider, and Lauren Egger had three hits apiece and leadoff hitter Ellie Lapi earned three walks as the Whip-Purs (2-3) led 8-1 over the Maroons (0-4) after just two innings.
Leadoff hitter Ellie Lapi reached on three walks and Egger hit a triple and had four RBIs in the win.
“Lauren Egger is hitting well. She hit a triple yesterday, too,” Hampshire coach Stacey Stepek said. “We know Peyton and Aly will hit the ball hard, Ellie’s getting on base a lot, and Haley is hitting it hard but right at people.”
With key returnees Jessica Rago and Jenna Lombardo away on spring break, Elgin coach Nick Bumbales saw the game as an intensive learning process for his young players.
“It’s a positive experience for some kids that haven’t been out there and I thought Sabrina (Stockman) pitched OK,” Bumbales said. “Our top five put the ball in play, at least.
“We have four games in already as opposed to one at this point last year, and we have three games next week, so we’re getting better prepared for conference play this year.”
Stockman is Elgin’s No. 2 pitcher behind Rago, and she faced a Hampshire team ready to swing its bats from the outset.
A Snider single and a DeChant triple preceded an RBI triple by Egger that put Hampshire up 3-0 after an inning. Five more runs in the second featured singles from Jasmine Lopez, Widmayer, DeChant, Egger and Renee Malecke, plus a triple from Snider.
Widmayer retired nine of 10 batters in the final three innings after giving up her only run in the second on a wild pitch that scored Elgin’s Madison Latham, who doubled for the Maroon’s lone hit.
Five games into the year, Stepek’s main concern with a team that includes four sophomores and two freshmen is that the Whip-Purs erase the mental mistakes they’ve made through five games.
The Hampshire coach believes more communication on the field from a wider variety of players will be vital moving forward for a team with good hitting and good pitching.
“As returning varsity players we have to reinforce what (Stepek) is saying,” DeChant said. “There are a few players that (talk) but the people that are doing it have to encourage the others to do it, whether it’s uncomfortable for our younger players or not.
“It’s one of biggest downfalls right now and we have to work on it. It’s not every team’s struggle but it’s ours.”
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Gary Larsen is a freelance writer.