Fallston Cougars first-year manager Spike Updegrove admitted to being jittery during his first game against his old team.
Meanwhile, C. Milton Wright starter Chelsea Funk had ice water in her veins as she finished off a stubborn home-standing Cougars squad Wednesday afternoon, 7-6.
“They?re a good team,” said Updegrove, who won four state titles in five years with C. Milton Wright in the early 1980s. “They?ve got an All-Star at every position, they really do.”
Trailing 7-2 in the bottom of the seventh, the Cougars put three runners on with one out, all reaching base via infield errors. Third baseman Jessica Bandzwolek turned on a 2-2 pitch from Funk and sent it to the left-centerfield gap for a grand slam. Funk kept her composure, however, and got the next batter to pop up to end the game.
“Her dad calls her a bulldog,” Mustangs manager Joe Dunch said. “She has the tenacity to stay in there and gut it out.”
The game was scoreless until the top of the fourth, when the Mustangs (11-1) exploded for three runs off Fallston (10-4) starter Megan Gravell. Senior centerfielder Katie Kolb led off with a single to left, and scored when senior catcher Katie McCauley crushed a line-drive into the right-centerfield gap for a two-run home run, her third on the season.
Left fielder Cynthia Foster followed with a towering drive to left-center that rolled far enough for her to circle the bases with her second round-tripper of the year.
“They?re more patient with their hitting this year than they have been,” Mustangs assistant coach John Harvey said of his hitters. “They can go deep into the count; they?re all good two-strike hitters for the most part.”
The Mustangs would put up single runs in each of the next two innings to jump ahead byfive, but the Cougars responded in the bottom half of the sixth, scoring two runs. Fallston would plate four more runs in their last at-bats, making the finish very interesting.
MARVELOUS MUSTANGS
» Funk finished with five strikeouts, giving her 74 for the season. She tossed a no-hitter in the fourth game of the season against Edgewood.
» McCauley drove in three runs from the cleanup spot, and Foster, batting fifth, drove in a pair.
» The Mustangs got a solo home run in the sixth from Nikki Hartner, who Dunch said has really come on strong this year. Her solo shot to left-center was her team-leading fifth.
» C. Milton Wright lost its first game of the season Saturday, dropping a 10-4 contest to John Carroll. Funk allowed just three earned runs.
