It was a sad senior night for Hanover players Mary Baker, Jess Spiegler and Amanda Woolard. In a twice postponed matchup between county rivals, the Atlee Raiders (8-1 Capital, 10-4) downed host Hanover 5-1, marking the first time ever that the Hawks have lost on senior night.

However in the other dugout there was nothing but smiles. After everyone’s focus has been on preseason favorite Lee-Davis, the win moved Atlee within one game of locking up the Capital District regular season crown, which they did by defeating Henrico the following night.

The Hawks (5-4, 9-7) thought they were in good shape heading into the bottom of the seventh inning but miscues and pressure mistakes were their undoing.

With the game tied 1-1 heading into the final inning, all that the Hawks needed was a sharp inning of defense then just enough offense to push a runner home for the win. But those plans quickly unraveled for the young Hanover team when the Raiders’ Megan Jordan led off with a double to left center. When Atlee’s Ryndee Ruch was next walked, Hanover coach Chris Pace chose to go with a pitching change, bringing freshman Erica Barrett to the mound in relief of fellow freshman Auguste Rohle.

Even though Rohle had turned in a very solid performance that that point, Pace decided to go with what had served his team best throughout the season. “All season long our winning formula has been, go Auguste as long as she can, until she gets in trouble late in the game, then go with Erica to close the door,” Pace said.

From when they faced her earlier in the season, Raiders head coach John Earley said his players learned that Barrett could be a difficult pitcher to read. “We faced Erica the last time and she has good speed but she gets the ball a little up sometimes,” he said. “We knew we had to be patient with her because she doesn’t always throw a lot of strikes when she first comes in. It actually throws us a little off balance because we don’t know if she’s going to throw a strike and we don’t know if she’s going to be a little off balance, throw up and all that.”

A Barrett wild pitch allowed the runners to advance into scoring position. Then Atlee’s Lauren Saller punched a shot to third and what should have been the first out of the inning turned into a bases loading single when the throw to first bounced in the dirt.

The Raiders’ Amanda Warley was then walked and Kayla Page, running in place of Jordan, came home to give Atlee their first lead of the game 2-1.
Next up, the Raiders Jackie Jenkins banged a shot to short but the throw to catch Ruch at the plate went wide and Jenkins was followed home by Saller for a 4-1 Atlee lead.

Randi Farrar then grounded out to second but Warley crossed for a 5-1 advantage that Hanover could not answer in the bottom of the inning.

Pace said that the loss did not fall solely on the hands of his relief pitcher. “They (Atlee) did a good job of not chasing,” he said. “Erica was a little wild and her defense did not back her up tonight. That’s the bottom line.”

For Pace it was a matter of the pressure getting to his young team. “I don’t have enough kids that are used to that situation,” he said. “We helped them out. We fell apart.

“The thing we take away from this, and it’s a very simple lesson,” Pace said. “I told them in the sixth inning, ‘Someone’s going to make a mental mistake and that’s going to be the difference in the ball game.’ Unfortunately that was us that made it.”

However, Earley had nothing but praise for his opponents. “They played real hard,” he said of Hanover. “They were in it. They gave us fits for a while. We were hitting the ball but they were making some real good defensive plays, especially Amanda Woolard in center field. She caught a couple of balls that were hit pretty well.”

Throughout the game, Woolard proved as she has done throughout her career, any shot into her territory is a virtual guaranteed out. “We stole some runs in center field,” Pace said of Woolard’s play. “I mean, Amanda’s, Amanda.”

Pace also praised the solid play of fellow senior Spiegler at first, who made a remarkable splitting catch to get a force on Atlee’s Holte and keep her record string alive. “It’s over 270 consecutive errorless chances for the first baseman,” he said. “Forty-nine games in a row. She hasn’t had any errors since her sophomore season.”

Pace placed Spiegler with lofty company. “We’ve had Lisa Puryear and Liz Smith who were two college prospects who played here besides her,” he said. “She’s (Spiegler) the best defender and first base we’ve ever had here.”

Hanover got on the board first in the bottom of the third off an RBI single from Woolard, whose shot up the middle drove home junior Erin McGhee for the 1-0 lead.

But Atlee answered in the top of the fourth. Jenkins led off with a single to center which was followed by a double to left by Randi Farrar. Then with two out, Hanover had a chance to hold off the Raiders when Liz Holte sent a shot to short. But the throw to first went wide and Jenkins scored to tie the game.

But it was Holte’s night on the mound. In her third season on varsity, and having faced Hanover nine times over that span, Holte took advantage of her first opportunity to pitch against the Hawks. In a complete game effort she did not give up an earned run.  “She came out strong and did what she needed to do,” Earley said. “She gave up one run but that wasn’t her fault, it was an error in the infield.”

Having played in the shadows of district favorite Lee-Davis all season, Atlee can now lock up the regular season title by defeating host Henrico on Tuesday night. “Lee-Davis has played some big games and they’ve beaten some big time people and they ended up losing some real close games and all that,” Earley said. “It took a lot of attention off us and we were able to slide by a few teams and play hard the rest of the time to get the key wins.

“I don’t think there’s been any pressure on us,” Earley said. “Everybody was expecting Lee-Davis to go and take everything so our girls didn’t have anything to really prove. They just played ball and played it well so far.”

Even though his Hawks fell to 5-4 in the district, Pace believes that his team can still make noise in the postseason. “That team (Atlee) has regional championship aspirations,” he said. “We almost beat them.”

On Tuesday, Atlee locked up the Capital District regular season crown with a 17-0 thumping to host Henrico. The Raiders scored nine runs in the first inning and had 12 hits in the game.  Farrar was a perfect 3 for 3 from the plate and carded three RBI.  Ruch went 2 for 3 with three RBI while Amanda Worley went 2 for 3 with an RBI and Hannah Lantz was 1 for 2.

On the mound, Jenkins threw a five-inning, one-hit shut out of the Warriors.

Atlee .....................000 100 4— 5 7 1
Hanover….............001 000 0— 1 5 3
Holte and Keyes; Rohle, Barrett (7) and Kirby. L: Barrett
Highlights: Ryndee Ruch (A) 2 for 3, run; Megan Jordan (H) 1 for 3, RBI-double
Records: Atlee 8-1 Capital, 10-4; Hanover 5-4, 9-7

Atlee ....................................900 53 — 17 12 0
Henrico…................................ 000 00 — 0 1 4
Jenkins and Keyes; Davis and Lantz
Highlights: Ryndee Ruch (A) 2 for 3, 3 RBI;
Randi Farrar (A) 3 for 3, 3 RBI; Amanda Worley (A)
2 for 3, RBI; Hannah Lantz (H) 1 for 2
Records: Atlee 9-1 Capital, 11-4; Henrico 3-6,
5-12