CHARLOTTESVILLE — Eastern Hancock put on a bunting clinic Wednesday.
The Royals had 15 hits, all singles, including six bunts, in a 9-1 Mid-Eastern Conference softball win over visiting Daleville.
All nine starters had at least one hit. Five players had bunt singles. Six different Royals had RBIs and seven Royals scored runs.
“I want my players to be able to hit line drives and bunt,” Eastern Hancock coach Terry Stephens said.
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He got a lot of both from a lot of people.
Trailing Daleville 1-0, leadoff hitter Bailey Stephens started a four-run third inning with a bunt single. She got things going in a two-run fourth with another bunt for a hit. In the fifth, Eriell Truitt started the frame with a bunt single, too. The Royals scored again and led 7-1 after five.
“(Coach) always says when you go up there you can’t be just a one-hit player. You have to be able to bunt, too,” Bailey Stephens said. “It’s really important for our team to bunt, because we’re fast. If we lay the bunt down where it’s supposed to be, we can get players around.”
That was the case Wednesday.
The bunts not only started rallies; they put extra pressure on the Daleville defense. The Broncos committed six errors, three coming on throwing miscues hurrying throws to first after bunts.
“If you put the ball in play, good things are going to happen,” coach Stephens said. “We showed that tonight. We put pressure on the defense. Pop flies are easier to catch than fielding a bunt.”
While the bunting put pressure on the Daleville defense, senior pitcher Elise Bittinger was stifling the Broncos offense.
After the fourth batter of the game, no Bronco reached second base.
Bittinger finished with a complete game victory, giving up just four hits, one walk and one hit batsmen. She fanned six and retired Daleville in order three of seven innings.
“One of the things we talked about (after the first inning) was throwing first pitch strikes,” coach Stephens said. “When you start off 2-0 on a batter, all of a sudden you have to start hitting the meat of that plate. We wanted her to focus on the first pitch strikes and then the catcher can call different pitches instead of having to squeeze back over to the middle of the plate.”
Only three Broncos reached base after the first inning.
“I was struggling (in the first inning) getting behind early in the count, but I’m really grateful to have a good solid defense behind me that I trust,” Bittinger said. “So, if I give up those meat balls that I never want to give up, I have a defense I know that can handle that.”
It was an error-free game for the Royals, too, and though Bittinger credits the defense behind her, she made a pretty good defensive play to start the fifth inning.
When Daleville’s leadoff hitter Sky Yoder tried to take a page out of the Eastern Hancock bunt book, Bittinger was there to field and throw out the speedy runner.
If you practice bunting like the Royals do, you get practice defending it.
“Any time we work defense we work our bunt coverage,” the coach said. “There are so many different scenarios, so you have to know where you are supposed to be. I think they got it down.”
Five Royals had multi-hit games. Caroline Stapleton had three hits. Bailey Stephens, Taylor Koch, Megan Bever and Truitt each had two. All four of the two-hit players had at least one bunt single.
The win keeps Eastern Hancock unbeaten in the MEC, improving to 2-0. The Royals are 4-2-1 overall. Daleville dropped to 2-5 and 1-3 in league play.
Eastern Hancock returns to action Saturday with a non-conference doubleheader at Lawrence North. The first game starts at 10 a.m.
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Eastern Hancock 9, Daleville 1
D (2-5, 1-3);100;000;0;—;1;4;6
EH (4-2-1, 2-0);004;212;X;—;9;15;0
WP: Elise Bittinger. LP: Alaina Meeker.
2B: Rachel Nixon (D). RBI: Caroline Stapleton, Taylor Koch, Paige Wickard, Megan Bever, Eriel Truitt, Sydni Bednarski (EH).
Notable:Bailey Stephens 2-for-4, 2 R; Caroline Stapleton 3-for-4, 2 R, RBI, SB; Taylor Koch 2-for-3, R, RBI; Megan Bever 2-for-4, R, RBI; Eriel Truitt 2-for-4 R, RBI; Elise Bittinger CG, 4-hitter, 6 K (EH)
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