Softball: Elaina Vidales gives Morris lift in win over Serena

MORRIS – In a game where runs were going up on the scoreboard at a frantic pace early, something had to change.

That change ended up being Morris senior Elaina Vidales moving to the circle.

Vidales came on to pitch in relief of starter Mylie Hughes in the fourth inning with her squad holding a three-run lead to shut down a Serena two-on, no-out rally Thursday. Vidales then retired nine of the final 12 Huskers hitters to help Morris post a 12-8 victory.

“That’s my role, to come in for Mylie when I’m asked to,” Vidales said. “I’m always throwing and warming up in between innings, so I’m always ready to go. Normally my best pitch is my screwball, but today, and really lately, my best pitches have been my curve and drop. I’m not really sure why, but those two pitches have really been working good for me, and that’s mainly what I threw today.

“I just wanted to come in and do the best I could to keep (Serena) from scoring any more. I have to also credit my defense, because they made a couple of really great plays behind me, and the offense for adding on and giving me a good cushion to work with.”

“Elania is all finesse and a pitcher who is not going to overpower you, but can really spin it and hit spots on both sides of the plate. Her dropball was really devastating today, really moving down at just the right moment.”

—  Jen Bamonte, Morris softball coach

Morris grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first on an RBI double by Halie Olson off Serena starter Maddie Glade. The Huskers tied the game in the second on a sacrifice fly by Brynley Glade.

The hosts then scored two runs in their half of the second on a two-run single by Addy Hackett only to see the Huskers score three times on an error, a passed ball and a wild pitch.

Morris (10-7) exploded for six runs in the third, highlighted by a two-run triple by Tessa Shannon, as well as RBI hits from Macie Ferguson, Cami Pfeifer, Hackett (double) and a pair of Serena errors to make it 9-4.

Serena scored twice in the fourth on back-to-back doubles by Brynley Glade and RayElle Brennan and a double steal before Vidales was called on to do her thing.

“Mylie and Elaina are completely opposite pitchers,” Morris coach Jen Bamonte said. “Mylie is a power pitcher, who brings speed and wants you to chase up high. Elania is all finesse and a pitcher who is not going to overpower you, but can really spin it and hit spots on both sides of the plate. Elania’s dropball was really devastating today, really moving down at just the right moment.

“This is the typical pitching order, Mylie then Elaina, because it’s very hard for many teams to adjust from hard throwers to finesse pitchers. For whatever reason, it isn’t as effective doing it the other way.”

Morris scored twice in the fifth (two-run double by Hughes) and once in the sixth (RBI hit by Shannon), while the Huskers finished the scoring in the seventh with two runs on an error and wild pitch.

Hughes (two RBIs) and Shannon (three RBIs) both finished with three hits for Morris, while Pfeifer, Ferguson and Hackett each had two hits.

Maddie Glade went 3 for 3 to pace Serena, while Paisley Twait recorded a pair of hits.

“The third inning where we had multiple errors and gave up six runs was the difference,” Serena coach Kelly Baker said, her squad falling to 10-5 on the season. “Along with the errors, we also had plays that won’t go down as errors in a scorebook but are plays that have to be made. Good teams like Morris are aggressive and are going to capitalize on any mistake you make. They showed that today all game long. Maddie pitched her butt off for us, but her defense didn’t help her out at times.

“At the plate, I thought we did a good job of laying off the high pitches like we had talked about before the game, but we also let way too many pitches go that were right down the middle. That’s not the team we are. It was a very uncharacteristic day for us in that regard.”