Brakettes Drive Past Bandits With Long Ball

August 10, 2006 - The Connecticut Brakettes used back-to-back fifth inning home runs by Jessica Merchant and Germaine Fairchild to rally past the first-place Chicago Bandits 4-3, Wednesday night, at Benedictine University in Lisle, IL. Both home runs came with two outs in the inning, and ended what had been a great pitching performance by the Bandits' starter, Amy Harre.

Harre had a no-hitter going with two outs in the fifth inning when Kelly Kretschman ended the bid with a double to left field. Kellie Wilkerson followed with a walk to bring up Merchant. Merchant let go a ferocious swing on the first pitch to drive the ball well into the right-centerfield bleachers. The shot traveled about ten rows deep before landing approximately 250 feet from home plate. The shot was Merchant's league leading tenth of the year, and put the Brakettes up 3-1. Fairchild was happy to oblige with an encore, as she planted a Harre pitch over 250 feet into the left-centerfield bleachers. Her homer stretched the lead to 4-1, and gave Brakettes' starter Sarah Pauly enough to work with. It also marked the first back-to-back homers of the year for the Brakettes. It was Fairchild's fourth smash of the season.

The Bandits scored their first run in the bottom of the second, when Trena Peel hit an RBI single to right field to score Nicole Trimboli from second base. Pauly was able to minimize the damage, and kept it close, despite the early stagnant Brakettes' bats.

After the Brakettes had taken what seemed to be a commanding lead, they allowed the Bandits to make it interesting, giving up two runs in the seventh inning. With one out, Mackenzie Vandergeest walked. Trimboli singled to put runners at first and second. Krista Jessup pinch hit for Amanda Williams, plating a run from second with an RBI single. That brought the game to within 4-2, with still just one out. Peel then walked to load the bases for Anne Steffan, who came into the game leading the NPF with a .437 average. Pauly struck her out swinging to bring up Jamie Clark who leads the league in RBI's. After falling behind the Bandits' slugger on a 2-0 count, manager John Stratton called for Pauly to intentionally walk Clark, knowing it would score a run, and bring the Bandits closer to an improbable comeback. The free pass cut the lead to 4-3, and brought Gina Oaks to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. Stratton's gutsy call proved to be prophetic, and left no one to second-guess his unconventional strategy. Pauly reached back and summoned up whatever reserves she could rely on, striking out Oaks swinging to record her ninth strikeout and end a classic matchup between the two teams atop the NPF leader board.

Pauly improved to 13-4 with the win, and now has 116 strikeouts on the year. She got the best of the matchup featuring the pitchers touting the best ERA's in the league, as the Brakettes moved to 24-12 on the season. Harre took the loss and dropped to 10-2. The Bandits still stand in first place with a 25-8 mark, and await the Brakettes tomorrow night for another contest at 7:05 Central, 8:05 Eastern time.

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