Brakettes Blank Classics Behind Balschmiter, Burkhart

July 20, 2007 - Riding dominant starting pitching from Brandice Balschmiter and Katie Burkhart, the Brakettes took a pair of games from the Connecticut Classics Friday night at DeLuca HOF Field in Stratford, 8-0 and 3-0. The Brakettes improved to 42-3 for the season.

Balschmiter pitched an abbreviated no-hitter, striking out 13 batters in six innings in the first game. She stayed ahead of the Classics all game long, and faced just one batter more than the minimum for the contest.

Burkhart pitched a two-hit complete game shutout, and did so in record-breaking style. She tallied 19 strikeouts, including a single-inning record five batters fanned in the top of the fourth.
The Brakettes were held scoreless through two in the early contest, but brought home four in the third, as Denise Denis led off with a triple. Mandie Fishback reached on an infield single, and Denis stayed put. Killian Roessner stroked a single to score Denis, and Fishback advanced. Beth Boden then laced a 250-foot shot over the left-center wall, her fourth homer of the year, and brought the lead to 4-0.

Jenkins singled to lead off the fourth, and moved to third on Fishback’s ground-rule double. Courtney Bures lofted a sac fly to left, plating Jenkins, and pushing the Brakettes’ advantage to 5-0. Roessner put the Brakettes up 6-0 when she hit another RBI single, scoring Fishback. Boden again provided some offensive firepower, lining a triple to score Roessner, giving the Brakettes a seven-run lead.

Denis led off the home sixth with a single, and promptly scored when Fishback roped a triple to right-center. The run was the eight for the Brakettes, and ended the game after six innings. The Brakettes accumulated 13 hits for the contest.

Stephanie Zweig kept the Brakettes guessing in the second game, allowing three unearned runs on seven hits, while striking out seven. But her solid pitching performance couldn’t equal that of Burkhart, who had at least two strikeouts in all seven innings she pitched.

After striking out the first two batters in the fourth, Burkhart faced Christine Bordeau with no one on base. Bordeau struck out swinging, but the ball got away from Roessner, allowing her to reach first safely. Teresa Bonavita then singled to break up the no-hitter, pushing Bordeau to second. Tara DeMontier also struck out swinging, but the hard drop was in the dirt, again getting away from the catcher. DeMontier reached first, as the other base runners advanced a base each. With the bases loaded, Burkhart found another gear, striking out Kelly Brenner swinging to end the inning, and putting her name in the Brakettes’ record books.

The Brakettes scored two runs in the third, as Jenkins led off by reaching on an error. Fishback doubled to score Denis, and Bures singled to bring home Fishback. The 2-0 lead stood until the fifth, when Bures doubled with one out. Roessner roped a single to left which scored Bures and put the Brakettes up 3-0.

Burkhart struck out the last four batters she faced, ending the night having struck out every Classic batter at least once.

The Brakettes and Classics meet again Saturday night in a 7:00 PM doubleheader at DeLuca Field. The games will be the last for both clubs before the 23-and-under ASA National Tournament, which starts Thursday in Stratford. The Brakettes will celebrate General Manager Bob Baird’s 60th birthday Saturday by handing out life-size “Bob”-ble head dolls to the first ten fans that get his jokes.