By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Utility players often get tagged with an unfair label – all field, no hit. Danielle Stegeman, a freshman struggling to adjust to varsity speed and competition, has already been used all over the diamond, and her glove has paid dividends. Her bat, on the other hand, didn’t have many scuff marks on it.
That changed on Saturday afternoon. After collecting only two hits in her first 12 career games, she exploded with a breakout performance as Bedford North Lawrence salvaged a win in the second game of the round-robin doubleheader.
After suffering a lackluster 7-2 loss to Living Water, a solid homeschool team from Indianapolis, in their opener, the Stars bounced back to knock down Lawrence North 10-5 in the second contest. Stegeman more than doubled her season output with three hits, including her first home run, during the victory over the Wildcats.
That’s the beauty of the game. As legendary broadcaster Harry Caray said, “you never know when the ball is going to bounce your way.” He also added “In baseball, you can’t predict anything. That’s why it keeps us coming back.” And that’s why Stegeman kept swinging. She was 2 for 25 during those first dozen games.
“I needed to get a ball in play,” she said. “I haven’t been too hot these last few days. I knew I had to make a change. And it felt great, felt amazing. It’s what I needed for my confidence to shoot back up.”
BNL (5-7-1) also had other heroes during the win. Haleigh Canada made multiple tough plays at third base, the Stars turned two key double plays, Tori Nikirk chased down a drive in the right-center gap, Ava Ratliff had three hits. It was a village victory. And an important one, as BNL looks ahead to four tough games next week.
“It felt really important,” Stegeman said. “If we didn’t succeed now, we would have carried that into our games next week and it would have been a repeated cycle.”
Living Water 7, BNL 2 – First, the bad news. The Marlins (6-3) landed a big fish with the win over BNL as pitcher Aubree Smith struck out 10 and allowed only five hits. The Stars were also guilty of three errors that allowed three unearned runs.
“She was a good pitcher,” BNL coach Brad Gilbert said. “She threw a good changeup and had us out in front. And we didn’t play very good defense.”
Elena Robertson hit a grand slam in the fourth (after an error and two walks loaded the bases) to put BNL away. The Stars scored in the fourth (Aliza Jewell’s solo home run) and seventh (Anna Williams tripled and later scored on a ground out).
BNL 10, Lawrence North 5 – Now, the good news. The Stars took control with five runs in the first, with Sara Williams crunching a two-run home run and Stegeman following with her solo blast (after Nikirk and Bella Warren used their quickness and aggressiveness to score the first two runs) during that outburst.
BNL kept up the pressure. Macee Nicholson blasted a two-run homer in the third, and Nikirk translated her speed into a run with a sharp single off the pitcher’s glove, taking the next two bases on a wild pitch and fly ball, and scoring on a Kendall Graves ground out for an 8-0 lead.
“What was nice to see was when we added on,” Gilbert said. “We extended that lead, we didn’t quit. I’ll take that scoreboard every game. We scored five and could have stopped or shut down, thinking it’s over, and we didn’t. I’m proud of that.”
Lawrence North (2-4) didn’t go quietly, scoring four in the fifth while pounding out five hits. Anna Mauck cranked a RBI triple, Ella Hogan singled her home, while Sydney Moss and Victoria Guyse added RBI singles to fuel the comeback. With one out and the bases loaded, Ratliff got Megan Fasbender on a liner back to the circle, and Ratliff fired to Canada at third to double off the straying runner.
BNL added another run in the fifth on Stegeman’s lofted RBI double down the right-field line, and the Stars turned another momentum-killing double play in the sixth when Graves gobbled up a ground ball near second, stepped on the bag to force out a runner and rifled to first to retire the batter.
“I think they’re feeling better about where they’re playing, and we absolutely made some nice plays to get us out of some spots,” Gilbert said.
BNL capped its scoring with a Ratliff double and Graves RBI single in the sixth. The Stars pounded out 14 hits, with Stegeman and Ratliff both totaling three while Nikirk and Anna Williams had two each. Jewell earned the win in the circle with 4 1/3 innings while allowing three runs, and Ratliff worked the last 2 2/3.
“We hit the ball well,” Gilbert said. “Anna had a great weekend, even her outs were hit hard, and it was nice to see Danielle get ahold of one.”
The player who didn’t bat had a big impact. Canada, playing third for her glove, was responsible for four of the first six outs with two slick snags of hard shots to the hot corner, plus a nice running catch of a pop up in foul ground. She later converted two more ground balls into outs.
“I always tell myself to be ready, be ready for the ball,” Canada said. “I kind of just blink, and it’s there. I know I’m a key concept for the defense, so I have to do something and make a smart play with it. Coach Gilbert trusts me enough in that hot corner, that if it’s hit to me I can make a play.”
In the middle game, Living Water whacked Lawrence North 12-5.
BNL will return to action on Thursday when it visits Jeffersonville.
