Hits keep coming as Kutztown beats Brandywine, 7-4
Kutztown senior Katie Calkins pitched a complete game and center fielder Jillian Siefert drove in two runs as the Kutztown Cougars defeated the Brandywine Heights Bullets, 7-4, Friday night in Lyons.
Kutztown opened an early two-run lead in the first inning off of a RBI double by Siefert and a RBI single by Olivia Kardohely.
They followed that up by scoring three more runs in the second, with Siefert driving in another run on a RBI single. Kutztown racked up eight hits in the first two innings as they built their lead. Kutztown coach Kevin Conrad the early hitting sparked his team’s victory.
“We’ve been hitting the ball pretty well this year,” said Conrad. “We had some con- sistent hitting early. We got a couple of girls up and down through the lineup; we’ve got multiple hitters in our lineup. We’ve been trying to keep pressure on teams and I think that’s what we did early on there.”
Siefert finished with two hits and two RBI for Kutztown. Building the early lead gave pitcher Katie Calkins room to work.
“Attacking early on in the game, especially getting on the board early really helped,” said Siefert. “It gave us a sense of security about the game and then we could focus on playing defense.”
Calkins pitched a complete game for the Cougars, allowing three runs in the third inning and one in the seventh. Kutztown recorded the final out of the game on a play at the plate.
After Brandywine cut into the lead in the third quarter, Kutztown added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth. Those insurance runs helped Kutztown maintain control of the game and the lead. Kutztown’s Abby Resoner said the late runs gave them some wiggle room.
“We faced the top of the order coming up there, so that was huge,” said Conrad. “It changed our whole philosophy there as far as what we wanted to do. We were able to pitch to those batters, where if we would have had a two-run lead with that runner on there, it probably would have changed my strategy.”
Brandywine pitcher Jessica Davidheiser pitched a complete game as well, essentially shutting down the Cougars after the third inning. On a cold night, each team’s bats cooled off after the top of the third inning as there was only one hit between the two teams until the bottom of the sixth inning.
Brandywine’s Naomi Faye had two singles and scored a run in the seventh inning. The game ended when Brandywine’s Amanda Geisinger was called out at home after trying to advance on a pitch that got away from the catcher.
Kutztown’s Conrad acknowledged that, despite the win, there were some areas his team could improve.
“We had a couple of mental lapses there, we gave up a couple of unearned runs. We need to tighten up on that,” he said. “We’ve been playing really good defense all year long, so that was just a rarity there. And a couple of called third strikes, that really drives me wild. We need to be a bit more aggressive when we get two strikes. But other than that, we’re playing really good ball right now. That was a big game for us.”