Take the Lead
Wild strikes out 12 to lead Perk Valley past Taylor Lindsay, Upper Perkiomen, 2-1
GRATERFORD » She had racked up 57 strikeouts and boasted a subone earned run average entering Wednesday’s tilt with Upper Perkiomen.
Needless to say, Perkiomen Valley’s Abby Wild has delivered to start the year. Wednesday, she did so again when her team needed a boost in the worst way.
Wild went the distance, striking out 12 batters as Perkiomen Valley battled through “a lack of fire” to down Upper Perkiomen 2-1 in Pioneer Athletic Conference play.
It wasn’t always easy for the senior right-hander, who worked the first three innings in order. She ran into trouble in the fifth after allowing three singles to load the bases and also in the sixth where she loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a walk. She shut the door with two-straight strikeouts in the fifth and then worked herself out of the sixth with minimal damage, getting the last Upper Perk batter to line out with the bases loaded. The only run she allowed came on a wild pitch in the sixth that scored Sarah Heidler.
“It felt really good to get out of situations like that,” Wild said. “I knew that my defense would
make plays behind me so I just settled down and stayed focus on the next pitch.”
Wild allowed five hits and one earned in her seven innings of work. Her success in the circle masked an otherwise dreadful day at the plate for Viking hitters. The team stranded eight runners and couldn’t knock in runs with a second and third, one-out situation in the second and first-and-third with two outs in the third. PV’s only runs stemmed from an error by the UP right fielder that scored Alex Vullings in the third and a Brittany Donigan single through the hole that scored Jess Ott in the fourth (Ott reached second on an error by the UP center fielder).
“It’s not about results, it’s about playing the game the right way,” Perkiomen Valley head coach Dan McLaughlin said. “One of the ways we can do that is showing support for our teammates and showing some energy. We didn’t do that today. That’s disappointing and I let them know that. It won’t happen again.
“We had a lack of fire today. I knew this game was important to them, it was important to us. It was disappointing coming out flat. They’re (Upper Perkiomen) a much improved team and we knew that coming in so there’s no excuse for not matching their energy.”
It was evident how much improved this Indians squad is. Power throughout the lineup was quelled much of the day by Wild, but hard-hit singles by Heidler, Morgan Lindsay, Taylor Lindsay, Alyssa Sullivan and Kourtne Buck showed a glimmer of what the team can do. That and the performance of Taylor Lindsay in the circle. She did her best to equal Wild’s performance in the circle. The right-hander went six innings while allowing four hits and two runs (zero earned) to go along with five strikeouts. NOTES >> Ashley Bangert and Sela Fusco also had hits for Perkiomen Valley.