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MORRIS — Anna Riva and her La Salle-Peru softball teammates wanted to have fun during Wednesday’s game against Interstate Eight Conference rival Morris.
Mission accomplished.
The Cavaliers dugout was alive with energy from the first pitch, and Riva got them cheering even louder in the top of the first inning. With one out, she came to bat with runners on first and second. She got every bit of a 1-2 pitch and drove it well over the center field fence for a 3-0 lead.
“I don’t really know what kind of pitch it was,” Riva said. “It was right down the middle and I timed it well.
“We were on our ‘A’ game as far as hitting today. Everyone was pumped up and engaged in the game. There was a lot of energy in the dugout and we all came ready to play.”
L-P (22-3, 6-0) wasn’t done in the first. After a walk to Makenzie Chamberlain, winning pitcher Taylor Vescogni launched a two-run homer to left to give herself a 5-0 lead.
That proved to be more than enough as the Cavaliers cruised to an 11-2 victory. Vescogni allowed just five hits and struck out 12 despite dealing with an injured fingernail on her pitching hand.
Morris (15-6, 2-4) got a run back in the bottom of the first when Cami Pfeifer singled with two outs, then came around on three wild pitches.
After going down in order in the top of the second, L-P continued to add to its lead. In the third, Kelsey Frederick led off with a single and stole second before coming home on a double by Riva, who was 3 for 5 with two doubles, a home run and four RBIs. Riva then scored on a long single by Chamberlain to make it 7-1.
“I think we are still getting better,” Riva said. “We have put in a lot of work in the offseason and during the season, and it’s starting to show.”
The Cavaliers added another run in the fourth when Callie Mertes (4 for 5, 2 doubles, 3 RBIs) doubled in Karmen Piano, who led off with a walk and stole second. Two more runs came across in the fifth on a two-run double by Mertes before a run in the sixth when courtesy runner Lydia Steinbach scored on a wild pitch to make it 11-1.
“We have a lot of good hitters,” L-P coach Randy Huebbe said. “We’re not just about pitching. And, our defense is getting better. Allie Thome played a real good game at third base today.
“Taylor wasn’t at 100% today, but she said she was ready to go and she’s a gamer. We knew we could be pretty good this year. We started 0-2 when we were still trying to figure out who was going to play where, but now we’re 22-3 and everyone knows their role and they just love to be around each other.”
Morris avoided the 10-run rule by scoring in the bottom of the sixth when Mylie Hughes tripled to right and came home on a wild pitch.
“L-P hit the ball well today,” Morris coach Jen Bamonte said. “Mylie wasn’t on top of her game in the circle, and they took advantage. They’re a great team and they are ranked No. 3 in 3A for a reason. We didn’t give our best effort today. But, every season you have a game or two that you just want to flush and move on, and this was one of those for us.
“We lost to them 3-0 earlier in the season on a good pitcher’s duel, but we had a lot better solid contact today than we did in that game. When we came into the dugout in the sixth, I told them we were playing for a run because we didn’t want to get 10-runned, and we went out and got that run.
“We were able to get some players into the game in situations they aren’t normally in. Anna Carreno came in and made a nice play at shortstop, Devin Shenberg did a good job playing first and Ella Urbasek got a chance to bat and hit the ball well against a very good pitcher.”