Shiner

St. Paul successfully rallies to defeat Sacred Heart

  • St. Paul senior Seryna Garza attempts a bunt in the Lady Cardinals’ 5-4 home win against rival Sacred Heart Indianettes on April 26 at the Shiner Starplexe. Garza scored one run. Photo by Mark Lube.
    St. Paul senior Seryna Garza attempts a bunt in the Lady Cardinals’ 5-4 home win against rival Sacred Heart Indianettes on April 26 at the Shiner Starplexe. Garza scored one run. Photo by Mark Lube.

    Down 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning, St. Paul senior Rayleigh Biehunko delivered a one-run single to score Ashlyn Pesek to tie the game before Tori Walker was intentionally walked to load the bases.
    Julia Machacek was walked with bases loaded to score runner Jessica Fikac for the walk-off run and the 5-4 win over Sacred Heart that gave St. Paul the district title.
    Pesek had been walked to start the frame and Green was hit by the pitch just before Biehunko got her clutch one-out RBI single.
    “I would say that is on my teammates. I was just in a position (to get the hit),” Biehunko said. “Playing in a close game is defiantly a challenge, but with the right team, you can get past it.”
    “We got up early on them with the Sydney Green home run and Sacred Heart battled back to take the lead. It took us some time to get our bats going but we finally did,” Lady Cardinals head coach Lance Giese said. “We never let up and battled the whole time. It was a great hit by Rayleigh Biehunko to send the runner in to tie the game up and eventually win.”
    Sacred Heart got into position to score at the start with back-to-back hits with two outs and had a runner get to third before starting pitcher Green got the third out on a strikeout.
    Green then led off with a single home run to give St. Paul a 1-0 lead.
    Save for a single from Green in the third inning, the Lady Cardinal bats went a little quiet for a couple of frames.
    The Indianettes tied the third frame with an single from Kostelnik to score Lackey.
    Sacred Heart grabbed the lead in the fourth, 2-1, as Hynes scored on a passed ball and went up 3-1 after the top of the fifth.
    St. Paul forced a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the inning: Gracie Machart was walked with one out and was safe at second on an error as the Indianettes attempted to throw her out instead of  trying to get Paris Flach out at first. Ashlyn Pesek was walked to load the bases and rather than take the chance of Green getting another hit, Sacred Heart elected to intentionally walk her to score Machart and Stefany Pokluda was hit by the pitch, scoring Flach for the tie. Sacred Heart reclaimed the lead in the top of the seventh with Lackey’s one-out solo homer.
    St. Paul will have a first-round bye and play in the area round next week.
    St. Paul hitting/offense — Sydney Green, 2-2, 1 home run, 1 run, 2 RBI; Paris Flach, 1-3, 1 run; Rayleigh Biehunko, 1-4, 1 RBI; Gracie Machart, 1 run; Jessica Fikac, 1 run;

    Ashlyn Pesek, 1 run; Julia Machacek, 1 RBI; Stefany Pokluda, 1 RBI.
    St. Paul pitching — Green, 6 IP, winning pitcher, 5 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk, 9K; Machacek, 1P, 1 run, 1 wild pitch, 2 walks, 2K.
    St. Paul fielding/defense — Biehunko, 6 putouts; Seryna Garza, 2 putouts, 1 assist; Pokluda, 1 putout, 2 assists; Tori Walker, 1 putout; Green, 1 assist; Machacek, 1 assist.
    St. Paul 5, Sacred Heart 4
    SH    001    110    1    4    8    1
    SP    100    020    2    5    4    0
    SH — Guzman and Lackey. SP — Sydney Green, Julia Machacek (4), Green (5) and Tori Walker.
    W — Green. L — Guzman.
    HR — SH: Lackey. SP: Green.
    2B — SH: Guzman