Pitching and defense.
Two elements that go a long way to winning championships.
The Poland girls softball team got both of those on Monday and that’s exactly why the Tornadoes quest for a Section III softball title is still alive.
Erin Batson and Mandy Weakley combined on a five-hitter and the defense did not commit an error as the Tornadoes beat Remsen 14-3 in a Section III Class D-1 semifinal Monday afternoon.
The win moves the top-seeded Tornadoes (13-5) into Wednesday’s D-1 final where they will meet No. 3 Oriskany which beat Hamilton 7-5 in Monday’s other semifinal.
The semifinals were originally scheduled to be played Saturday but were both rained out.
“Both Erin and Mandy have thrown well and the defense has just gotten better and better as the season has worn on,” Poland coach Greg Haver said of the keys to Monday’s win.
Early on it looked like Poland may have a rough time with the Rams, a team it beat twice during the regular season by scores of 7-3 and 8-0.
Batson, who no-hit Remsen in that second win, allowed three hits in the opening inning including doubles to Jamie Martineau and Alaina Rieben as Remsen took a 2-0 lead.
Rieben’s double drove in Martineau and then she scored on an RBI single to Weeks.
“We knew coming in we couldn’t take them for granted despite beating them twice,” Haver said. “They are a good hitting team and showed it in the first inning.”
Poland answered with a run in its half of the first on a Mandy Weakley’s RBI single then took control of the game with a four-run second.
Shaky Remsen defense helped contribute to the Poland second inning and was a factor much of the day. Unlike Poland, the Rams committed nine errors on the day, too much to overcome.
“They are usually strong defensively so that really helped us today,” Haver said of the Rams fielding miscues.
Krista Stubba sparked the second inning by leading off with a perfectly placed bunt single. Lindsay Huckabone then walked and Erin Batson followed with a fly ball to left that was misplayed for an error scoring Stubba. One out later Bri Rathbun delivered an RBI single to give Poland the lead and Batson was also able to score when the ball got by the leftfielder allowing Rathbun to get all the way to third.
She then scored on Weakley’s second RBI of the day, a fly ball to right.
Batson gave up another run in the third on Rieben’s RBI double but had clearly settled down.
The two hits for the Rams in that inning would be their last two of the day.
Batson allowed all three Remsen runs and all five hits over the first four innings of work finishing with three strikeouts and two walks.
Weakley then pitched hitless ball over the final three innings with two strikeouts and two walks.
Poland meanwhile continued to tack on runs scoring five times in the third to make it a 10-3 game then adding two insurance runs in both the fourth and fifth innings.
The Tornadoes finished with 14 hits on the day with 13 of them being singles off Remsen’s Martineau, who struck out five and walked four while hitting a batter. Sarah Graulich had three hits and Lexi Schreppel had two hits with a double and Bri Rathbun two hits with three RBI. Batson and Weakley helped their own cause by driving in two runs apiece.
Eight of the nine Poland hitters had at least one hit.
Rathbun and Schreppel each had two-run singles in Poland’s big third inning that helped put the game away.
Poland will now get its chance to play for a sectional title.
“With some of the new girls this year and the pitching we had, I thought we might have a chance to have a good season,” Haver said. “We’ve just gotten better and better and this is a nice surprise.”