Popke's two triples help Sandusky surge past PC

PORT CLINTON — Makayla Popke got new life. The Sandusky senior hit a little dribbler off her bat, but didn't run. The ball ended up foul by a few inches, resulting in just a strike. On the next pitch, Popke ripped her second triple of the game, driving in a pair of runs. The Blue Streaks rolled from there, topping Port Clinton 9-3 in Sandusky Bay Conference crossover softball action Tuesday. "I was scared at first because I thought I was going to be called out," Popke said. "I got another chance and got another triple." Sandusky (4-4) jumped on Port Clinton (9-5) from the get-go after the game was moved to PCHS from Dorn Park due to rain earlier in the day. After a scoreless first inning, Savannah Palmer singled and Popke was hit by a pitch to start the second inning. Leila Nestor then laid down a bunt and reached safely after a throwing error. With Popke at third and Nestor at second, a ball hit by Alia Prentice resulted in another Redskins error, scoring two more runs. After a sacrifice bunt from Camille Shephard and a walk to Amari Prentice, Akiyla Jones singled, bringing in a run and putting Sandusky up 4-0. "They're a good team. If you look at who they've played and who they've lost to, it's not like they're losing to nobodies," said PC coach Ryan Wiechman of Sandusky. "They're losing to good teams. We put ourselves in a hole in the second inning with three errors. "But, they also have a lot of good hitters. They were barreling the ball up." The Blue Streaks opted to utilize their short game and speed to force Port Clinton into errors early on. Despite Sandusky batting around in the second inning, the ball never left the infield. "We've been preaching to try different things," Sandusky coach Phil Jones said. "We don't want to always rely on the big bats we have. We have good speed and good power. We wanted to get the girls at the top of the order on and power through to get them in." Popke tripled with one out in the third inning and scored on yet another Redskins error. Her second triple in the fourth inning helped blow the game open. First, Akiyla Jones recorded an inside-the-park home run to make it 6-0. Izabell Sartor singled and Kaylee Summers walked before Popke's poke to the right-field fence that gave Sandusky an 8-0 lead. "She's been showing up really, really good," said coach Jones of Popke. "She's been seeing and hitting the ball really well. She's a senior and she's getting those hits now. As long as she stays with it and hits her pitch, she can make it fly." Port Clinton got a run off of Summers in the circle in the fourth inning, but she struck out the side to limit any further damage. Summers' day came to a predetermined end after the fourth inning. "We knew in mind we have to play Clyde tomorrow," coach Jones said. "We wanted to get her a certain amount of pitches and go through the lineup once or twice. We wanted her around 50 pitches, but it was going well for her." Nestor went the final three innings for the Blue Streaks. Port Clinton manufactured runs in the sixth and seventh innings, but neither one was earned. "We were kind of worried because we were supposed to be at home and we like home games," coach Jones said. "Coming on the road and being the visitors, I wanted to make sure we were ready to go. I think we jumped on them and kept it going." A scary moment happened for Sandusky in the fifth inning. After Nestor got the first two outs, a ball hit by Jae Mazur struck Blue Streaks third baseman Alia Prentice directly in the face. She left the field with a bloody face and didn't return. "We had her in our thoughts, but we had to get back down to business," Popke said. "If a teammate gets injured, we want to win it for them. She deserved the win." Summers struck out six in four innings of work. "She has a circle-change. I tried to tell the girls her arm slows down when it comes," Wiechman said. "She did a good job. Little bit of not knowing where exactly the strike zone was, so we had to swing at some circle-changes that were out of the zone. You can't take them for a called third strike, either. That's a credit to her." The Redskins, who have already played 14 games, will enjoy a much-needed day off Wednesday before traveling to Vermilion in SBC Bay Division play Thursday. Port Clinton committed five errors on the day, continuing an unfortunate trend. "The trend this year has been if we have more errors than runs, we haven't won a game," Wiechman said. "It's not rocket science. We gave them a lot of extra opportunities." Meanwhile, Sandusky (1-1 SBC Lake Division) has an important league game Wednesday at Clyde (4-5, 1-0). "We want to make another statement," coach Jones said. "We want to show up, play hard and see what we can do." Sandusky 041 310 0 — 9 12 1 Port Clinton 000 101 1 — 3 5 5 WP: Summers. LP: Frohne. 3B: (S) Popke 2; (PC) Miller. HR: (S) Jones