By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Bedford North Lawrence was almost silent but still deadly.
Making the most of only two hits, the Stars manufactured enough offense to conquer Barr-Reeve 5-2 on Tuesday afternoon. Aliza Jewell scattered five hits and freshman Macee Nicholson hurled a perfect seven inning in relief.
BNL (10-9-1) took advantage of five Barr-Reeve errors to tally three unearned runs against soft-throwing Kennedy Huff.
“We’re frustrated because we thought we should have hit the ball better,” BNL coach Brad Gilbert said. “But at the end of the day, we did what it took to win. A win is a win.”
The Stars pieced together runs in the first (Tori Nikirk reached on an error, advanced to third in a wild pitch and scored on Ava Ratliff’s ground out) and second (Anna William and Sara Williams got on base via errors, moved up on a wild pitch, and Anna Williams trotted home when Maddy Figg got a bunt down to score the run).
BNL added a run in the third when Figg took advantage of another Viking miscue, pinch runner Haleigh Canada advanced on a wild pitch, and Nikirk plated the run with a ground out.
The Vikings rallied in the sixth. After loading the bases with no outs, Willow Thompson singled in the first run, and one out later Kirra Stoll grounded into a force out as the second run crossed. Jewell got the final out on a pop out to Canada at third.
The Stars added two big insurance runs in the sixth. Jewell walked and Nicholson singled, both runners advanced on a wild pitch, and each scored on ground outs.
“They were one big swing away from taking the lead,” Gilbert said. “That last inning was key, we were patient at the plate, did some things to move runners.
“We really struggled to time her. We had too many one-hoppers to third, we were out in front and couldn’t wait. But when we got runners to third, we got the ball in play and made things happen.”
Thompson and Hallie Knepp had two hits each for the Vikings. Kendall Graves had the other hit for BNL. Jewell struck out five in six innings.
“Aliza pitched great, Macee shut them down when Aliza got tired, and we played good defense,” Gilbert said.
BNL will host Columbus North on Wednesday.
