Bishop Walsh hits three homers, beats Moorefield, 9-5

Mar. 26—CUMBERLAND — Not even the cold and blustery conditions could deaden the Bishop Walsh bats on Friday afternoon.

Izzy Kendall, Jennifer Witt and Chloe Greise each cranked solo home runs, and Greise pitched seven solid frames to lead Bishop Walsh over Moorefield, 9-5, to improve to 2-0.

"We hit the ball well today, I thought we moved the ball in and out on the mound," Spartans head coach Chris Greise said. "We had some solid defensive plays. All-in-all, I'm happy with it."

The last time Bishop Walsh took the field, the Spartans used pitching and glove-work to beat the Yellow Jackets (2-2) on the road, winning 4-2 on Monday to open the season.

The period off did wonders for the Bishop Walsh bats, as the Spartans hit safely 10 times and equaled their first-game run total in just one inning.

Bishop Walsh capitalized on a pair of Moorefield errors to get runners on. Witt slapped a two-run, seeing-eye single up the middle, Greise scored one with a single to left and Brooke Adams drove in a run on a bunt for a 4-0 lead.

On Adams' bunt, Ale Puerto, in the game as a courtesy runner, flew around the bags and scampered home from second base before the Yellow Jackets' defense knew what hit them. Puerto also swiped a base later in the game.

Moorefield scored an unearned run in the second, but Kendall, Witt and Greise hit solo homers in the second, third and fifth innings, respectively, to allow the Spartans to build a 9-2 edge through five frames.

The Yellow Jackets' centerfielder Marissa Ward pulled a three-run bomb from the left side over the right-field fence to get them to a respectable four-run deficit entering the seventh; however, that's as close as Moorefield got.

The Yellow Jackets committed five errors and left a pair of runners on third to fall to 2-2.

"We had a few errors there, and then we left too many baserunners on," Moorefield head coach Bridget Sions said. "Bishop Walsh is a good team, they hit the ball. Keeping the ball low and outside is key, and we missed a couple of our spots, and of course, they took them long.

"Other than that, I'm proud of my girls. We came back and we went down swinging."

In the circle, Greise allowed five runs, one earned, on four hits in seven innings while striking out seven and walking three to tally the win. Greise did well to mix her speeds in the circle, freezing Yellow Jacket hitters with change-ups on more than one occasion to garner punchouts looking.

Moorefield starter Emily Kuykendall came out to start the third inning but couldn't continue, and right-handed reliever Amber Williams tossed four solid innings in relief, allowing two earned runs on three hits with four K's and a walk.

The teams combined for nine errors and nine unearned runs in total, and the cold conditions seemed to play a significant part.

"My girls don't do as well in the cold, they were holding their hands under their armpits," Sions said. "I told them they're going to have an even colder one tomorrow, so you've got to make it work. Gotta play ball."

Despite some defensive miscues here and there, Bishop Walsh ended the game with a clean 4-6-3 double play, as Witt tossed a tidy service to the shortstop Adams at second, who made a quick transfer and fired to first to get the final two outs of the contest.

"We practice that all the time, that's the second one in two games," coach Greise said of the double play.

Courtney Adams, Brooke Adams, Witt and Greise all hit safely twice. Bailee Greise smoked an RBI double in the second, Witt finished with three RBIs and Chloe Greise drove in a pair.

Ward ended 2 for 3 at the plate with two runs and three RBIs to lead the Moorefield line-up, providing the Yellow Jackets with power at the bottom of their order out of the eight-hole.

"Marissa is on fire," Sions said. "She's really hitting the ball hard. I'm very proud of her, she's driving it."

Moorefield has another cold one in store for the squad next, as it hosts Washington in a doubleheader today with Game 1 beginning at noon.

Bishop Walsh hosts Northern (0-3) on Monday at 4:30 p.m.

"I feel really good, I feel we're in the top five," coach Greise said of how the Spartans are positioned in the area this year. "The Allegany's, the Keyser's, the Fort Hill's, they're all in the same mix. Pound-for-pound, it could be anybody's game anytime anyone plays."

Alex Rychwalski is a sports reporter at the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @arychwal.