6A-3 softball: Bartow's offense perks up in victory over Viera
BARTOW — The thing that pleased Bartow High softball coach Glenn Rutenbar the most in his team’s 6-2 victory over Viera Tuesday night in the Class 6A-Region 3 semifinals was his team’s offense.
In their recent games, the Yellow Jackets (25-3) had struggled a bit at the plate, including a 2-0 win in last week’s regional quarterfinal over Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer.
“I was very pleased because the last few games we haven't done enough offensively" Rutenbar said. “We’re not going to hit three home runs and four doubles or things like that. But I thought tonight, for the most part, we had good at-bats.”
More importantly, with sophomore Red Oxley in the pitcher’s circle, the Yellow Jackets put up some runs early, scoring all six of their runs in the first three innings.
“We talked about that," Rutenbar said. "Getting the lead makes a big difference."
Actually, all of the runs were scored in the first three innings that was delayed for 90 minutes at the start because of lightning in the area.
Oxley, now 21-0 on the season, entered the game having given up just three unearned runs this season. The Hawks (13-10) touched her for three doubles and two runs (one earned) in the first three innings before she settled in after that to shut them down.
“After (the second inning), I thought Red really pitched good” Rutenbar said. “She wasn't getting that change-up in the first few throws. We said, ‘You got to get that change-up down,’ because that makes a difference. But she did great.”
Oxley retired 12 of the last 13 Viera hitters, 10 on strikeouts. She finished with 18 strikeouts for the game, giving her 318 for the season.
At the plate. Oxley, Morgan Grubb, Julia Heter and Peighton Mathis each contributed two hits to Bartow’s 10-hit attack.
Belen Gomez drove in a run with a sacrifice fly and Heter singled home a run in the first to give the Jackets a 2-0 lead.
Viera’s Maddie Ford doubled home a run in the second to cut it to 2-1, but the Yellow Jackets responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Oxley singled home two of the runs and her courtesy runner, Chelysei Brisbane, scored on a single by Grubb to make it 5-1.
A two-out infield error allowed Viera’s second run to score in the third before Mathis doubled home a run for Bartow in the bottom of the inning to make it 6-2.
After Oxley walked the leadoff hitter in the fourth, she struck out the next eight Viera hitters and retired 10 straight before a one-out walk in the seventh.
With the victory, Bartow, the No. 3-ranked team in Class 6A, will host fourth-ranked Melbourne Friday in the Class 6A regional final. The game has been rescheduled for 4 p.m.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: 6A-3 softball: Bartow's offense perks up in victory over Viera
