Senior Becky Temkin belts a fifth inning triple that put the Bengals up 6-0 and secured a first round playoff victory over Churchill.
Blake senior pitcher Olivia Lawson threw two strike outs and allowed right hits Saturday at Magruder.
By Robert Klemko
Blake senior captain Brooke Speake is still the most vocal girl on the diamond despite a season-ending clavicle injury last month. She's voiced her confidence all season, even as she watched her Bengals drop six of their final seven regular season appearances. Finally, with Senior Night past and graduation looming, the senior-heavy Bengals are starting to listen up.
Blake addressed it's offensive woes Saturday and overcame Speake's absence in the lineup with a 10-1 win over Churchill in the opening round of the 4A West regional playoffs.
"We've really needed to keep our heads in the game, said senior first baseman Gaby Ferra. "After our captain went down we had our heads down and we started to slip. We just had to realize that she wasn't the whole team."
Saturday's game, played at Magruder high school due to rain damage to Blake's home field, featured the eighth-seeded Bengals against ninth-seeded Churchil.
Blake jumped out to a 2-0 lead when junior Justine Smith doubled to left field in the bottom of the third, scoring Noelia Ramon Ramos and senior Becky Temkin. Temkin broke open the game during Blake's five-run fifth inning when her triple scored Ferra and senior Heather Young. During the next at-bat, Temkin scored from third on a wild pitch to put her team up 7-0.
Blake coach Mary Moser said the postseason marked a feeling of renewal on a team with seven seniors.
"Starting the playoffs with a win is like starting the season over again," Moser said. "The defense played especially well today for having to adjust to those balls in the wind."
For the most part, senior pitcher Olivia Lawson kept Churchill batters at bay with two strikeouts and eight hits allowed. The Bulldogs scored their only run in the beginning of the sixth inning senior second baseman Stephanie Michael notched an RBI single to make the score 7-1.
Michael said her team's losing record and opening round loss say little about the Bulldogs' performance.
"We had a very young team this year," Michael said. "It was a rebuilding year but our record didn't show how well we played in alot of games."
Blake, the eighth seed in the region, will face top-seeded Gaithersburg in the second round. The Bengals dropped an early season meeting with the Trojans, 6-0.
"I think we can make it all the way," Temkin said. "I know Gaithersburg is really good but if we play good defense and get hits... we can beat them."