PREP SOFTBALL: Orange wins two

Orange County softball coach John Henry Ryder has a simple philosophy when it comes to pulling out victories on the diamond: when you start hitting the ball, that’s when good things start to happen.
The Lady Hornets were making those good things happen on Saturday as they stormed through the competition in the Sport Plus St. Anne’s Invitational.
Orange (5-2) started the day with a 14-0 drubbing of host St. Anne’s-Belfield, then followed that up with another shutout, knocking off Eastern Mennonite 10-0.
The Hornets got two terrific outings on the mound from pitcher Heather Jenkins, as she threw all nine combined innings, giving up just two hits and allowing no runs. She also helped out at the plate, going 3 for 4 in the morning victory over STAB. In the win over Eastern Mennonite, Jenkins had 10 strikeouts and walked just two batters.
“[Jenkins] located some nice pitches and really threw the ball well,” Ryder said. “You can have the greatest pitcher in the world, but if you don’t hit, you’re not going to win.”
Freshman third baseman Micalah Sacre significantly contributed for her team in the hitting category, going 5 for 6 in the two games and driving in four runs. After going a perfect 3 for 3 (with a single, double and triple) in game one, Sacre stepped to the plate to lead off the bottom of the second inning in game two. On the first pitch she saw, Sacre completed the day’s cycle with a powerful home run to left-center field off of Flames pitcher Heather Vaccaro, giving the Hornets a 1-0 lead that they would not relinquish.
Following Sacre’s homer, Tina Spencer, Mandy Murphy, Megan Roberts and Alisa Washington all rounded the bases and extended the lead to 5-0. Orange scored its runs in bunches in both wins, with three 5-run innings and two 4-run innings on the day. Eastern Mennonite could not catch up to Jenkins’ fastball, and when the Flames did make contact, Orange’s defense was on top of every grounder and under every fly ball.
“Our main concern was us hitting the ball,” said Ryder. “We’ve been playing pretty good defense this year, but hitting was our concern. Once we started hitting it, things happened, and that’s what you have to do to win ballgames.”
Ryder will look for his team to keep up the offensive production as the Hornets resume Jefferson District play at Monticello on Tuesday at 6 p.m.