Chloe Park makes contact on sacrifice fly that gave NJ Vipers 14U a two-run lead.
By Sean Reilly
The DHAA Red Devils-Sinno traveled from their home in Brooklyn to Diamond Nation on Saturday looking to make an impact at the 14U Aces Spring Invitational.
It took a bit longer than they wished, but that’s exactly what happened in their opening matchup against the NJ Vipers 14U.
Down two runs and with time running short on the play clock, the Red Devils scored four runs on five hits in the top of the fifth inning to gain a 4-2 victory in Flemington.
The comeback made a winner out of left-hander Sienna Donahue, who pitched a one-hitter with five strikeouts and four walks.
The lone hit by the Vipers was a slow ground ball single along the third-base side by Naya Kratz to start the bottom of the fifth and final inning.
By that time, the Red Devils had the lead, which enabled Donahue to perform with much less pressure.
“It made it a lot easier,” she said. “I didn’t really change my pitches, I kept it pretty much the same. But the lead made me feel relieved and less stressed.”
The Red Devils fell behind after the Vipers manufactured a run in the bottom of the first. Ella Couch led off with a walk and moved to second on a groundout. Couch advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on Blake Kelly’s groundout to shortstop.
The Vipers used three walks to load the bases with one out in the second inning. Chloe Park then hit a sacrifice fly to right field for a 2-0 lead.
The Red Devils, in the meantime, were struggling against Vipers starter Avery Gioia.
Gioia retired the first six Red Devils until Reese Pearlman began the third with a single to center field, followed by a steal of second.
Reese Pearlman, who went 2-for-2, takes off on steal of second base for DHAA Red Devils-Sinno
But the next three batters were out, on a strikeout looking, groundout to first and pitcher-to-first grounder.
The Red Devils were on the verge of breaking through in the fourth inning, after singles from Tallulah Henderson and Rosalie Sterling put runners on first and third with two out. But a ground out to third base ended the inning.
The fifth inning comeback began when Keira Coyne led off with a triple to right field. Pearlman followed with an RBI single to center. She stole second, moved to third on a passed ball and scored the tying run when Chloe Corsi reached on a bunt single.
Corsi stole second before the next two batters struck out.
With the top of the order now up, Ainsley Bloch singled to shortstop, and a throwing error on the play brought in Corsi with the go-ahead run.
Bloch advanced to second on the play, and she scored the fourth run after Lauren Cassidy hit an infield single that was compounded by an error.
The clock had expired during the rally, but the inning still had to be completed since the Vipers were the trailing home team.
After Kratz reached as the Vipers leadoff batter, and then stole second, the Red Devils coaches reminded the defense to ignore her presence on the base paths and to play for outs.
The advice worked, as a fly out to right field, strikeout and groundout to second ended the game.
Donahue ended her performance by retiring nine of the final 10 Vipers batters.
“My curve ball and drops were working,” she said.
The Red Devils will head into the Sunday playoffs with a 1-1-1 pool record after playing to a 4-4 tie against the CT Wildcats and losing 8-3 to the RI Thunder Gold-CTS.
The Vipers ended the pool stage 1-2 after losing a 7-6 contest to RI Thunder Gold-CTS and defeating the CT Wildcats, 11-3.