RED HAWK RESILIENCE
Troy Athens rallies twice to sweep twinbill from West Bloomfield
TROY » A lot of success is often just a matter taking what life hits at you, and dealing with it.
For the Troy Athens Red Hawks, they had to deal with falling behind winless West Bloomfield in each game of Thursday’s doubleheader, but rallied to win both, using big inning after big inning.
Athens won 17-2 in four innings and 9-1 in seven to stay unbeaten in Oakland Activities Association White Division play.
“These girls have done a really good job of playing for each other, and they don’t let the outside stuff get to them. They do a really nice job of coming together as a team, and they’ll get along out off the field. So that’s been like a huge thing this year,” Athens coach Kerry Brennan said. “And, you know, we can throw any girl at any spot, and she plays her butt off for teammates. And so that’s really cool. And it’s nice to back that up with very strong pitching from both of our seniors Ashlee (Goodhew) and Julia (Dahlerup) and then couple that with some hitting, so it worked out well. Yeah, the girls stayed focused.”
For Athens senior pitcher Julia Dahlerup, what was being hit at her in the second game was … well, line shots for the most part. The Red Hawks’ ace dealt with it, racking up six assists — one to finish off a double play — to go with a pair of line-outs she snagged. She sprinkled in six strikeouts in the win, as well.
“Over the weekend, she actually took a line shot right up the middle and it rattled her a bit, so it’s great to see her making all those awesome plays out there, you know, after taking that,” Brennan said. “She did really, really well. She threw well, she hit well today and then fielded well while on the mound.”
For the Lakers (0-15), life has hit one massive bad-hop grounder at them this season, but they certainly didn’t play Thursday like a winless squad. They jumped out to leads in both games, and fought to make sure that Game 2 went the full seven innings, even after they could’ve folded when they lost catcher Wynter Williams in a scary collision at the plate.
“You know what, we work
a lot on mentality on the game on the field. And so when we make some fumbles and the bumbling the ball and things like that, it’s poker face, put it on next, the next play,” Lakers coach Maggie Mullen said. “I think we’re just starting to click as a team. It might be later on in the season, but it’s happening now and I’m sure to see it. And our results are looking better and better every game.”
Goodhew gave up just two hits in four innings of work in the opener, but both scored runs for the Lakers. Sydney Stapf put West Bloomfield on top with a two-out solo homer in the first inning, then Laiken Connor singled home a run with two outs in the fourth, after an error put Williams aboard.
The Red Hawks (13-4, 4-0 OAA White) responded immediately, sending 12 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first, scoring seven runs. Goodhew and Haley Hurley had RBI singles in the rally.
Athens batted around again in the third, making it a 13-1 game with six more runs. Goodhew, Addison Pokely and Ashley Savage had RBI singles in the rally, while Dahlerup cleared the bases with a double.
Four more runs in the fourth — the last two coming in on a two-run double by Ashley Savage — got the game to the mercy-rule limit.
Kendall DeSynder’s RBI single put West Bloomfield up 1-0 after the first inning of the nightcap, but Athens rallied for four runs in the third to take the lead for good, getting RBI from Dahlerup on a fielder’s choice and Ella Musto with a single.
Dahlerup and Addison Cosgrove had RBI doubles in the five-run fifth, while Mackenzie Weber added an RBI single, but the game would stay at 9-1 the rest of the way.
For the Red Hawks, next week will be key to their title hopes, as they take on Rochester Adams on Tuesday and cross-town rival Troy on Thursday. It helps, though, that they’ve been successful against some of the teams from the OAA Red as part of what was a 6-1 start.
“We took care of business earlier in the season with Oxford and Clarkston. And I think that built a lot of confidence, you know, having those games early on and competing,” Brennan said. “And then when we get to the White league games, we’re still competing just as hard. So it’s paying off, all their hard work. These kids work very hard, and they really love to play. So it’s nice to have them get rewarded with that.”