By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Leather and lace was a combination that created sweet music in the 1980s. Bedford North Lawrence flashed some sensational leather, laced a few ball, and recorded a victory that sounded pretty good.
Aliza Jewell, backed up by spectacular catches from her defense, and Ava Ratliff, smacking the ball over and off the fence, powered the Stars to a 9-0 victory over Mitchell in the annual county clash on Monday afternoon. That duet was a hit.
Jewell went the distance in the circle, scattering three hits during her shutout. Ratliff crushed another home run and totaled three extra-base hits as BNL (8-9-1) ended Mitchell’s three-game winning streak by scoring in every inning.
The defensive work was impressive. Tori Nikirk authored three outstanding plays at a second base, including a leaping snag of a line drive headed toward right field, Britta Warren went deep into right center to track down a dangerous drive near the fence, and Jewell soared to snare a high bouncer up the middle, scooping the ball out of her glove to first base, to rob the Bluejackets of another hit.
“We put the ball in play,” Mitchell coach Christa Mullis said. “They just made the plays.”
Meanwhile, BNL’s offense was persistent. The Stars scored single runs in the first four innings before finally striking for multiple runs in the final two frames. “I was getting tired of the ‘1s’, but I can’t complain,” BNL coach Brad Gilbert said.
He’s not tired of watching Ratliff assault the ball. She hammered the first pitch she saw in the first, laughing her state-leading ninth homer of the season. In the second, Sara Williams singled to center and raced around to third on an outfield error, and she scored as Danielle Stegeman grounded out.
Ratliff cracked a triple off the top of the fence in right and scored on Jewell’s single in the third. In the fourth, Williams doubled and scored on Stegeman’s single. BNL took advantage of two errors to score twice in the fifth, and Nikirk clubbed a two-run home run during a three-run sixth.
Jewell struck out 4 and gave up 3 singles.
“I really thought she pitched well,” Gilbert said. “She hit her spots, she came inside on the lefties, and we got a lot of ground-ball outs.”
Mitchell’s hits came from Alyssa Young, Davaney Roop and Natalee Nissley.
“We didn’t hit it as good as we wanted,” Mullis said. “We didn’t strike out a lot. We’re a young team, so we’re still adjusting in the batter’s box. I’m not disappointed, we hit the ball.”
Ratliff was 3 for 4 while Williams and Stegeman had two hits each.
“We’re trying to build,” Gilbert said. “We just have to keep that up.”
The Stars will host Columbus North on Tuesday, while Mitchell will entertain Springs Valley on Tuesday.
