UNION TWP. | Morton coach Matt Barno said pitcher Angelica Justinano was his go-to person. Justinano showed why in Tuesday's game against Wheeler, allowing six hits and striking out eight in Morton's 8-1 win against the Bearcats.
"I came here focused, I knew it was going to be a cold game and I usually don't pitch well in cold games. I did well, my team was there to back me up," Justinano said.
Her team was able to back Justiano up by the infield's play. The Governors stopped Wheeler's opportunity to reach base — the Bearcats reached base only six times.
"Infield play was amazing," Barno said. "Vivian (Peterson) at third did her job great, great communication between our first and second basemen.
"I can't say enough about how great they did, even the outfield backing up the infield. Everybody knew where they were supposed to be today; no one seemed to get lost in the game."
The Governors (5-0) were hitless through the second inning, but scored three runs in the third inning. Jessica Chorak's single scored Lindsay Welch to make it 1-0. Then Megan Rogers hit a triple to center field, brining in Yarelis Reyes and Chorak to put Morton up 3-0.
"We came out a little bit cold, we didn't really get hits in the first couple of innings, but once we started getting them things started falling into place," Barno said.
With two batters out and leading 4-1 in the sixth inning, Morton put up four runs to extend its lead. Lindsay Welch reached first on a throwing error by Karessa Sweeney, allowing Ashlie Rossi to score. Chorak then doubled to left field, brining in Welch and Reyes. A throwing error by catcher Paige Finch brought in Vivian Peterson made it 8-1.
The Bearcats had six errors in the game. Their only score came in the fifth inning when Mari Media reached on an infield single on a catching error by Rossi, allowing Alexa Fratzke to score. Amber Anderson struck out seven Governors, but allowed twelve hits. Wheeler (3-3) has now lost its last three games.
"We left a lot of plays out on the field," Wheeler coach Marc Bruner said. "The errors were secondary to the fact that we're not taking good approaches at the plate, and we haven't for the last couple of games.
"We've scored one run in the last three games and it's not good enough. We've got to be able to make the adjustments on the fly that we're not making right now."
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