Mistakes Foil Triton Again [VIDEO]
BREMEN – It looked like the pitchers were going to take center stage again in what has become a very competitive blossoming rivalry. Triton and Bremen were heading down the narrow rail once again in Northern State Conference softball Friday night until a compounding of mental mistakes derailed the Lady Trojans in a 6-2 victory by the host Lady Lions.
Triton had Bremen on the ropes, leading 2-1 heading into the fifth inning after Megan Berger punched a two-out, two-run single to left. But as the offense began to sputter in key situations late, the defense also fell apart. And Bremen, the defending NSC champions, made sure its limited opportunities were met with purpose.
Triton left a runner in scoring position in the fifth, but had an even more golden opportunity fall in the sixth. Mallorie Jennings led off the sixth with a triple to deep center field. With the heart of the Triton order coming up, Bremen pitcher Chelsea Huppert settled down and induced a groundout from Krystal Sellers keeping Jennings at third. Allyson Brown then grounded a ball to short, which Brooke Fitch fired home to nail Jennings and then Brown was buzzed at second by the reply throw from catcher Shelby Zellmer. The play would open up Bremen’s parting shot.
Bremen actually took a 3-2 lead in the fifth when a two-out error allowed Emily Molden to crush a two-two pitch to left center for a two-run double.
“Emily’s hit was very huge for us, that really seemed to get us going,” said Bremen head coach Mike Huppert. “She has been pressing lately and it seemed to get her to relax a little bit. We knew they didn’t want to face (Huppert) with the bases loaded, so I gave Molden the green light saying you are going to get a good pitch to hit and she put a good swing on it.”
In the bottom of the sixth, Bremen never put the ball in play any farther than Jennings, but Triton committed three physical errors and per head coach Steve McBride, made a couple mental errors as well. In all, Bremen scored on a wild pitch, a pickle where Triton went after the backside runner rather than holding a runner at third in a rundown, and off a throwing error that sailed wide of third with a runner occupied on the bag.
“We had some nice moments, but there are others when we don’t make plays,” McBride said. “We get a leadoff triple in the sixth and then hit two dribblers in the infield. They then have a kid come up and knocks in two runs with two outs. It’s a fine line. Granted, this is one game, and we’ll get them again at our place.”
Given all the fielding woes from Triton, Jennings’ outing in the circle was spoiled in many regards. Jennings did allow eight hits and the six runs, but only one of the runs was earned and she struck out five. Three of Bremen’s hits were bunt singles.
Huppert had six strikeouts in the first three innings and wound up with eight overall, allowing just four hits in total.
The last time these two teams met last May, Jennings and Huppert combined for 37 strikeouts and the teams played 11 innings to decide matters. The SR 331 rivalry certainly looked renewed as both coaches reminded their teams how critical games like Friday night’s can be later on.
“This rivalry seems to bring out the best in both of us, and we’ve been watching the scores and saw they won some close games coming in, so we knew we had better be ready,” Huppert said. “We figured this would be another close one, and through four innings, it certainly was what we expected.”
“The defense, I’ll have to get control of that, it’s my responsibility as the head coach,” McBride said. “We made some decisions tonight that we normally wouldn’t have, and it cost us the ballgame. When you give Bremen extra outs, they’ll score runs on you. I know the kids didn’t mean to make the mistakes, they just happened.”
Triton (7-2 overall, 2-1 NSC) will return to Keyser Field Monday to host LaVille while Bremen (4-3, 3-0) will take on South Bend St. Joseph’s Saturday in a doubleheader.