Miranda Elish entered Wednesday’s Duneland Athletic Conference game against Chesterton having allowed no runs and one hit all season.
The Crown Point senior right-hander and Oregon signee surrendered a home run to Bailey Slivka in the fifth inning.
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But it was a mere blip in an otherwise dominant performance by the Bulldogs, this week’s No. 1 team in the MaxPreps XCellent 25 national softball rankings. In a matchup between the first- and second-place teams in the conference, they came away with a 15-1 win over the Trojans.
Elish (5-0) gave up just the one hit, recording 16 strikeouts with one walk, facing one batter more than the minimum. She has 71 strikeouts and three walks in 32 innings this season.
“It’s tough because you have a lot of pressure to perform every time you’re out here,” Crown Point coach Ginger Britton said of Elish. “She does a nice job of hitting her spots. She’s worked hard on adding some pitches to her arsenal this year. If one’s not working, she has a couple others. She hit her spots, and that’s tough in the rain.”
Elish issued a leadoff walk to Notre Dame commit Shelby Grimm, who stole second before getting thrown out attempting to steal third. Elish struck out 11 straight batters before Slivka cracked a homer to center to start the fifth for Chesterton (11-3, 7-2).
“You just can’t think too much about it,” Elish said. “You just have to come back and get the next batters, and work well with your catcher.”
Indeed, Elish retired the final nine batters. She struck out the side in the seventh, including Slivka to end the game.
Chesterton’s senior second baseman didn’t know her first homer of the season was the first run Elish allowed.
“It’s just exciting to get a run on the board for my team,” Slivka said.
“A pitcher’s a pitcher. Crown Point and the DAC in general is really good. Just going up against any pitcher, you just want to look for your pitch. It’s just like any other game.”
After Slivka’s homer, Elish crushed a two-run homer to right-center in the sixth. In the seventh, she lined her second double to cap a 3-for-5 game.
“I was just trying to put the ball in play and get that run back for my team,” Elish said of her homer. “But I definitely was trying to put a little extra something behind it.”
Crown Point (10-0, 9-0) broke in front with four runs on four hits and two Chesterton errors in the first, highlighted by Natalie Klingberg’s two-run single. The Bulldogs exploded for seven runs on eight hits in the seventh, sending 11 batters to the plate. In the inning, Casey Hipp had a pinch-hit homer and MacKenzie Dunlap had a three-run homer.
“We were seeing the ball well,” Britton said. “We got ahead in the count, made some good contact. All the way through the lineup, we put the ball in play.
“Scoring early always gives your pitchers a little bit of confidence. It gives Miranda a little bit of breathing room, especially in the rain. This is a really good team, so jumping on them early definitely helped.”
Elish enjoyed the cushion.
“That was awesome,” she said. “It’s nice to have your team jump out like that. We just did so well. Our bats really came alive. It’s nice to pitch on a lead. You feel more comfortable, and you’re able to throw your game instead of worrying about giving up a run.”
Twitter @MichaelOsipoff