SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS: Boston was banging at the cellar door, looking to gain ground in the standings as the postseason looms in the rearview mirror, but Los Angeles had something else in store.
It was a night of uncharacteristic starting pitching from both sides of the mound.
LA starter Michele Roche (2-1), seeing Boston’s lineup for the first time, didn’t get a good read. The resilient right-hander gave up back-to-back walks on 10 pitches, and Ticara Geldenhuis and Raine Padgham made her pay with consecutive singles to take an early 3-0 lead in the top of the first.
In the bottom half, the Hunters’ Gigi Schiano, the starter tonight who’s usually a reliever, returned the favor surrendering a leadoff single to Samaria Benítez, then hit Ashton Lansdell, quickly putting two runners on base. After Jamie Mackay reached on a fielder’s choice and took second, Caitlin Eynon, who’s not so quietly becoming one of the Queens’ hottest hitters, laced a shot deep to short, digging out a two-RBI infield hit, as she collided with Boston first baseman Alli Schroder.
Schiano then walked the bases, one of which to Maggie Foxx, whose guest-broadcasting dad Loren joked, “I came to see her hit!” Isabella Villarreal, making up for lost time sitting on the sidelines most of the season, walked in a run, and another hit-by-pitch to Diana Ibarra brought in the go-ahead, making it a 4-3 game.
Two weeks shy of the Postseason, Boston’s Alli Schroder landed her first base hit, a looper to short right. Hyeonah Kim got a free pass, Gabbie Haas lifted a single to center and with the bases loaded, Molly Paddison brought in the tying and go-ahead runs with a base hit to center field. Denver Bryant juiced the bags with a four-pitch walk, and with no outs, Geldenhuis went down swinging on a 1-2 pitch, Padgham followed suit on a full count, and Roche left them loaded on Lexi Hastings’ infield groundout to second.
LA’s Maggie Foxx drew her second walk in the bottom frame; her father gave her a playful dig that she wouldn’t be the one to steal, but she successfully scored the tying run on Benítez’s single up the middle.
Schiano settled in, retiring the side, 1,2,3 in the fourth, and the Hunters took a one-run lead in the fifth off of Schroder’s RBI single; she was 3-3 on the night. In the bottom half, Foxx’s third walk and Villareal’s second hit prompted Jemile Weeks to replace his starter with reliever Olivia Bricker, who got the pinch-hitting Mo’ne Davis to ground into an inning-ending double play. If Weeks only knew what was ahead in the bottom of the sixth, he may have kept the starter from Wyckoff, New Jersey on the bump, but – you know what they say – there’s no clairvoyance in baseball.
Villarreal made her pitching debut in the top of the sixth. After walking Haas and giving up a base hit to Paddison, she got a twin killing of her own, leaving a runner on third when Geldenhuis was caught looking at a called strike three.
In the bottom frame, Bricker surrendered a lead-off base hit to Benítez, then lost to Lansdell on a 3-2 pitch. Schroder went from first to the hill and immediately plunked Mackay to fill the bases. Ayuri Shimano, the new shiny offense for LA, found a way to send the tying run home on a wild pitch, moving the runners into position to score more. Schroder won the battle with Shimano on a swinging 3-2 pitch after fouling off a ton of pitches. And with one away, she got Eynon on a called strike three.
With back-to-back K’s, it looked like the Canadian would keep it a one-run game, but Sarah Edwards, 0-2 on the night, saved her best for last with an RBI base hit to right, extending the lead by one, and another unruly pitch added another. Foxx, to her father’s faux chagrin, drew her fourth walk, and Villarreal was caught looking.
Queens closer Meggie Meidlinger had a more Meidlinger-like seventh, retiring the side in order. Villarreal picked up Player of the Game, 2-3 with an RBI and scoreless in relief.