GREENE – Greene completed a perfect run through the Midstate Athletic Conference, and capped the regular season with a repeat performance.
The Trojans, who lost to Afton in the 2009 MAC finals, upended the Crimson Knights in the championship game a second straight time picking up a 4-1 victory Monday.
It was the closest intraleague game for Greene this year, who played the role of front-runner in every inning of every MAC contest. “Any time you can get a win against Afton, especially in the the championship game, it’s always a plus,” said Greene coach Rick Smith.
Less than a month ago, Greene ripped the Crimson Knights 15-3. In that game, the Trojans’ lineup banged out 18 hits, and had a nine-run inning to put the game out of reach. “The first score this year, I told (the team) that it was not going to happen again,” Smith said.
Smith was spot-on in his judgement, although the first Greene swing of the bat seemed to indicate the onset of another blowout win.
After Hanrahan retired Afton in order in the top of the first, Greene lead-off hitter, Caitlin Willis, swung at the first pitch thrown by Afton freshman pitcher, Payton Cutting. Willis roped a triple to left-center, and she scored on Taylor Ellis’ bloop single to short center field.
Two innings later, Greene opened its advantage to four runs. Natalie Greene singled to right field. Jahna Driscoll attempted to move Greene up with a sacrifice bunt, but an errant throw to second base was off the mark putting two runners on base. Morgan Ellis did lay down a sacrifice bunt, and Taylor Ellis delivered another clutch hit doubling in two runs. Taylor Ellis came in to score when Hanrahan’s line drive to center field was dropped.
From there, Cutting kept Greene off balance, and was especially efficient in the fourth inning needing only six pitches to send the Greene lineup down in order. “We helped them out here and there, but this was nothing like the first showing we had against them,” said Afton’s longtime coach, Cindy Bostelman. “We played respectable and played some good ball against them.”
Afton resorted to small ball – and just putting the ball in play against Hanrahan – to tally its lone run. Stacey Guokas was hit by a pitch to start the fifth inning, Taylor Briggs advanced Guokas on a groundball, and each runner was safe on a Greene throwing error to second base. Guokas moved to third on the play, and she scored on Harley Jennings’ groundball to second. Greene was a tad late in its throw home to catch Guokas, and Afton still had two runners on base.
