Softball: Metea Valley slips past Geneva

Alexas Caputa was playing with fire Tuesday, but the Metea Valley pitcher didn’t get burned in a 4-2 Upstate Eight crossover win over visiting Geneva.

“It was kind of scary, I guess, but you have to compose yourself with runners on base and stay focused,” said the junior right-hander, who worked out of jams in each of her four innings of work to win her first decision of the season.

“It’s just you and the batter and you can’t think about what happened before. Sometimes you have to pull through.”

Caputa did just that, stranding nine Viking runners, including three in the first when her defense committed two errors behind her. She scattered seven of the visitors’ 10 hits before giving way to hard-throwing lefty Stephanie Bova, who pitched the final three innings – stranding four more runners – for the save.

Both pitchers gave up an earned run, Caputa in the third and Bova in the seventh before wriggling out of trouble with the tying run at the plate.

“Unfortunately, our defense (four errors) didn’t help us out much today, but our pitchers did a great job of getting out of several jams,” said Metea Valley coach Kris Kalivas, whose team is 3-0 and 1-0 in Upstate Eight Valley. “I thought both of them pitched great today.”

And the defense did step up, at times, with key plays. A strong wind blowing in from left field made airborne balls troublesome but right fielder Sara Knox making three nice running catches. And first baseman Lori Oberndorf snared a couple of tough line drives, turning one into a double play.

“Sara did a great job and got a lot of action out there and was all over every ball,” said Kalivas. “I thought Lori did a great job at first bailing us out a couple times.”

After spotting Geneva the lead on Kelly Gordon’s RBI single in the third, Caputo tied it in the fourth with an RBI single and Emily Backer gave the home team the lead for good with a successful squeeze bunt.

The Mustangs added two in the fifth on an error and Knox’s RBI single.

The Vikings (5-2, 0-1 Upstate Eight River) also struggled in the field, committing four errors behind losing pitcher Haley Orwig.

“Six of our seven third outs were line drives,” said Geneva coach Greg Dierks. “We had more good at bats than any other game. We had runners on second and third (with no outs in the fourth) and the meat of our order coming up and got nothing. That hurt.”

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