Baserunning, Timely Hitting Earns Oliver Ames Softball Victory Over Quincy in South Sectional Tourney

If you chip away long enough, eventually good things will come.

At least that was the case for the No. 14 Oliver Ames softball team Thursday afternoon at Parkview School in the preliminary round of this year's South Sectional tournament.

The Tigers beat No 19 Quincy, 5-2 to advance to the first round. They'll travel to No. 3 Sandwich Friday afternoon at 1 p.m.

"We noticed that the small ball worked so we went back to it and we got them a little rattled," Oliver Ames coach Lindsey Allison said. "Once we got them a little rattled, [we] were able to get some hits in the sixth inning and kind of get those security runs."

The Tigers turned a 2-0 lead into a 5-0 lead in the sixth inning. As it turned out, they needed the security. Quincy scored two runs in the 7th, but it wasn't enough to topple the Tigers and pitcher Mattea Sarnecki.

OA scored in the first inning, thanks so some solid baserunning by leadoff hitter Erin Lynch. After bunting her way on, Lynch stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a wild pitch.

Lynch did it again in the fifth inning after bunting her way on. She then scored all the way from first base thanks to some Quincy mis-cues and throwing errors.

"Erin Lynch is able to get a bunt down in a pinch at all times," Allison said. "She’s one of the best lefty slappers I have had the pleasure of seeing play..…. She has potential to get better and she’s playing injured, too. She has that arm injury from breaking our fence in left field."

OA started to swing away in the sixth. After Jamie Gottwald reached on a double, she was driven in by a Jackie Healy double. A Krystina Lincoln bunt single then drove in Healy's courtesy runner, Virgillia D'Antonio. Lincoln later scored on a pass ball.

"It was a great team victory," said Allison. "Everybody played a part in that win, from the starters to the people off the bench, runners, pinch hitters, people laying down bunts. It was a great game of small ball."

Although Sarnecki allowed two runs with two outs in the seventh, she kept Quincy scoreless for most of the game. She allowed only two runs on three hits while striking out eight.

Allison said Sarnecki is someone she can count on.

"The good thing about Mattea is she knows how to keep them off balance and she hits her spots," said Allison. "We work together really well. I call the pitches to her and the catcher relays them to her and Mattea and I usually are on the same page. If we’re not, she’s not afraid to come and tell me. She executes one pitch at a time. That’s all I can ask."

The Tigers don't have much time to prepare for Friday's 1 p.m. game against No. 3 Sandwich. The Blue Knights finished the year 17-1.

Allison said her squad will look to continue its momentum from Thursday.

"The discipline for the rise balls [today] just wasn’t there and we started to bring it together today at the end," she said. "We just have to make sure the discipline at the plate and aggressive with strikes."