Adams earns twinbill sweep of Troy

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

TROY — Although Rochester Adams has been competitive in girls softball in recent years, the Highlanders have not been able to solve Troy’s pitching machine.

Over the past dozen years, the Colts have had an assembly line of standout pitchers, including a pair of four-year all-staters.

Now that those pitchers have all departed, teams are finding the playing field a little bit more level when facing Troy. Adams took advantage of that on Monday.

The Highlanders posted a pair of 8-1, non-league wins over the Colts, the first in several years over Troy.

“I know it’s been a long time,” offered veteran Adams coach Fran Scislowicz. “Look at the pitching Troy had had, with (Jessie Granger) and (Jordan) Wheatley in the past 10 years. They were hard to beat because of them. I think we might have beaten them once between those two, but it’s still been a few years. There have been a few mercies and big losses.”

Adams picked up its 20^th and 21^st victories against Troy (13-8), producing a pair of big innings in both games

“We got contributions from all 14 girls,” added Scislowicz. “Everybody got a chance to play, we hit the ball and we played about as clean as we can play. We gave up a lot of traffic, but we didn’t fold in the first inning (in the opener).We somehow came out unscathed. One bad error could have opened up the floodgates.”

The Highlanders broke the first game open with seven runs in the third inning, thanks to six hits and a walk, and added a single run in the fifth. Troy scored one run in fifth but could never recover from the seven-run deficit.

“We got some good innings from our pitchers,” said Scislowicz. “(Melanie) is our senior and we got what we thought from her and Michelle is our inning eater. She keeps the ball down, throws the little change up and drop ball. She keeps the ball down and they usually keep the ball into the dirt.”

Bre Polcyn was 3-for-4, Ashley Durand 1-for-3 and smacked a two-run home run and Maddy Phelps was 2-for-4 and had two RBI for the Highlanders, who collected 12 hits in the opener.

Troy still had 10 hits, with Kamryn LaCarter going 3-for-4 and Cori Mittelbrun 2-for-3 for the Colts.

Melanie Kipke gained the win from the circle for Adams, going five innings while giving up five hits with one strikeout and one walk. Michelle Coultean pitched the final two frames, giving up five hits and one run while fanning one and walking one.

In the nightcap, Adams jumped on Troy with three runs in the first. After the Colts scored a run in the top of the fourth, the Highlanders stacked on five more runs in the bottom half of the fourth to put the game away. Adams had 13 hits in Game 2.

“We’ve been playing a lot better than we were earlier in the season,” said Scislowicz. “With the districts starting next week, you always want to be playing your best softball. I think we are starting to peak at the right time.

“We’re 21-8 and that’s great with the situations that we’ve had to go through this season,” added Scislowicz. “They’ve overachieved and they came together to have a good season.”

Polcyn was 3-for-4 with a double and three RBI and Anna Losuko 2-for-3 for Adams in the nightcap.

Coltean came back to win Game 2, going all seven innings. She allowed six hits, struck out two and walked three.

Troy only had six hits in the nightcap, paced by Lynsey Mukomel’s 2-for-2 performance.

Troy was hard hit by graduation, including the loss of four all-state players. Veteran Colts coach Tom Calnen expected some growing pains in 2011.

“We’ve had our ups and downs,” he said.

“At the end of the day, they are good kids,” offered Calnen. “That’s what more important. But there is nothing more irritating (as a coach), very disappointing when they don’t compete. And they wanted to. There are times where we seem to check out and don’t compete. Adams made some nice plays in the field and hit the ball well. I don’t want to take anything away from them. But we didn’t play all that well and it showed.”

Tags: Prep Softball

Category: High School, Prep Wraps, Rochester Adams, Troy