Defense makes a difference in Hall’s win over Newman

STERLING — The Hall coaches have emphasized how important defense is to winning for the team.

In Monday’s 10-5 Three Rivers Athletic Conference East win at Newman, it was defense helped make the difference. It was Hall’s first win over Newman since 2021.

“The number of errors we commit directly correlates with the amount of runs the other team gets,” Hall coach Ellen Hermann said. “So we’ve really been working at practice, just getting it into the girls’ minds, you have to make these easy plays. And now they’re making even the harder plays.”

Hermann noted Charlie Pellegrini and Hayven Rossi both making great catches in the win.

Offensively, Hall out-hit Newman 9-3 as Caroline Morris, Ava Delphi and Kennedy Wozniak combined for seven RBIs.

Brynn Blair pitched all seven innings to get the win, striking out five. She allowed three earned runs on three hits with four walks, and had an RBI double.

“I think we’ve finally found our combination of defensive positions out there and Brynn’s been doing really well for us,” Hermann said. “Just throwing strikes like we ask her to.”

The game was tied 4-4 after four innings before defensive miscues piled up for the Comets (4-9, 0-3) as the Red Devils (4-10, 3-1) pulled away.

Hall’s first five hitters, Pellegrini, Leah Burkart, Morris, Delphi and Wozniak combined to score nine runs with seven hits and seven RBIs.

“Those are our leaders right there, our first five batters,” Hermann said. “They are always ones we can count on.”

Being competitive in the conference is a step in the right direction for Hall after wins have been hard to come by in recent years. The Red Devils swept Mendota and now have a road win over Newman.

“It’s really huge because we haven’t really been competitive the last couple years in our conference,” Hermann said. “I keep telling the girls, play like that. Just clean defense and just hit the ball like you know how, and we’ll get the wins. We’ll give teams a hard time when we play like that.”

Hall scored five unearned runs as Newman finished with five errors. There were also a couple of dropped balls and near-misses that could have been outs.

Newman coach Charlie Woodward said injuries are affecting the team, which also had a couple of players out with illness.

“We were missing a few quality players today that we normally have out there,” he said. “You kind of hope some of the girls would step up a little bit and it got away from us.”

Lucy Oetting had a double and scored two runs for Newman, and Kaylee Benyo had two RBIs. Gianna Vance struck out 10 in seven innings and had two RBIs for the Comets.

Woodward would like the team to have more energy in the future and move on from missed plays more quickly.

“We’re a young team still, so I think the girls are slowly learning that,” he said.

Newman still was able to compete as it tied the game in the third inning after falling down 4-2.

“We’ve got some girls out here that are new timers that have never played,” Woodward said. “We had two girls out today that weren’t feeling well, so hopefully they will be back by Thursday and we’ll be a different team.”

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Newman’s Lucy Oetting is juts out of reach for a hit up the middle against Hall Monday, April, 21, 2025. (Alex T. Paschal)