Clyde finishes off key Lake win over Bellevue

BELLEVUE — Clyde scored six runs in the top of the fifth inning, four of which happened with no outs. Ember Andres singled to center field and drove in Ariah Farrar. Amber Dillingham then drove in Andres on a ground ball that went past Bellevue's Chloe Easterwood. From there, Jayleigh Flynn drove in Dillingham on her fly ball to left field, and on an error from the Lady Red, chased in Mya Stiefel. Clyde continued the momentum en route to an 8-3 Route 20 Rivalry win over Bellevue on Thursday in Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division action. "I think we thought it was a zero-zero game coming in," Andres said. "We had to come in with a strong mindset." The win keeps Clyde in first place in the league. "I think we made less errors that way," Flynn said. "I tried to not think about it being a 1-1 game coming in. I wanted to help score some runs and get the lead early for our team." The Fliers (10-8, 6-1 SBC Lake) came out hot after the game was suspended in the top of the fifth inning April 24 due to weather. "We felt like we wanted to come out aggressive and get some runs," Clyde coach Marc Marshall said. "In the first game, I felt like they put the pressure on us, so I wanted to put the pressure back on them and turn the tables." Later in the fifth inning, Andres walked and plated in Kember Nelson. "We needed to keep the ball in play," Andres said. "That was what was going through my head, and to trust that my team knew what it was doing." By the time the damage was done, Clyde led 7-1. Flynn was 1-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored while Andres was 1-for-4 with two RBI and two runs. "I thought to myself, we have three innings to prove ourselves," Flynn said. "We just had to be aggressive at the plate and keep hitting the ball." With that many runs, the Fliers were able to relax a little for the remainder of the game. The last run it got in the top of the sixth inning was more of an insurance run. "I was really confident coming into this," Bellevue coach Logan Hurst said. "We were really hot two weeks ago, even though I wasn't happy about the weather. The slow start is our Achilles heel this season, and we have to start approaching it by jumping on them sooner than the second or third time through the lineup." Bellevue (8-11, 4-5) got just hot enough to score two runs in the seventh inning. The first came when Mallory Hay drove in Easterwood on a ground out to third. The second came just after that when Ryleigh Knutti lined a double to center field and drove in Taylor Waldrup. "Ryleigh had two doubles, probably inches from a homerun," Hurst said. "She is level-headed and stoic. She thinks in the box and always has a plan. She has a good approach and we need to feed off that." Knutti had one RBI with two hits and one walk. With the game completed, Madison Myers allowed three runs on nine hits, fanned three and walked one. Hay allowed eight runs on 10 hits with five strikeouts and six walks. "She has been dealing with some hip injuries as of late and we could see it," said Hurst of Hay. "She will go to battle for us and we have got to start backing her up and giving her run support regardless of what it comes down to." As for Clyde, their next challenge happens Friday at home in the form of Perkins (8-11, 4-5) on Senior Night. "Regardless of who we play, we have to play the best we can play," Marshall said. "We want to make sure we put the ball in play and we have to make sure that we are running the bases. Our game plan is going to be the same." Clyde 100 061 0 — 8 10 1 Bellevue 000 100 2 — 3 9 1 WP: Myers. LP: Hay. 2B: (C) Flynn; (B) Knutti 2, Rich