Baker girls near special mark
The Ida Baker girls’ softball team came home from the Kissimmee Klassic tournament this weekend with a championship trophy and some valuable tournament experience that could help them get through future tournaments.
“It was a good experience for the girls,” said Bulldogs coach Morgan Klare. “We played four games in 24 hours and fought through exhaustion. The competition was pretty even for the most part, but we didn’t really start to hit the ball until the fourth game. I don’t know if the girls just wanted to get home or what.”
Besides the White Division championship, which they secured with a 2-1 victory over Lake Brantley Saturday afternoon, the Bulldogs raised their season record to 16-2. Winning three of the four games added three more wins to the career total for Klare, which now stands at 98 over her six seasons at Baker.
“It seems pretty good,” said Klare. “I don’t know if any other coaches in the area have 100 wins, but the girls are excited about getting it for me.”
The Bulldogs host Fort Myers Tuesday night and Cape Coral Thursday. If they win both of those, the celebration of 100 wins for Klare would come after the Cape game.
“I just do it for the love of the game and the love of the athletes,” said Klare. “The rest of it I take with a grain of salt.”
Baker opened the Kissimmee tournament with a 3-2 win over Doral Academy Friday before losing to Frostproof 2-0 in the wee hours of Saturday morning. The late start was due to the strong storms that passed through the area on Thursday.
Despite the loss, just their second of the season, the Bulldogs earned the top seeding to face Lake Brantley in the division championship game.
The Bulldogs scored two unearned runs in the top of the fifth inning to beat Lake Brantley 2-1.
With Sierra Myers on third base, a catcher’s wild pickoff throw allowed Myers to score the first run. The second scored on a throwing error by the shortstop on a play at home plate.
Against Frostproof, the Bulldogs gave up two runs in the sixth inning to break the scoreless tie. After a scoreless five innings, sophomore Maddy Peres gave way to Deniece Bent, who was tagged for a 220-foot shot to the left field fence and a shot to the right-center gap on her third pitch. A collision at the plate knocked the ball loose allowing both runners to score. The game ended at 1:45 a.m. Saturday.
Guaranteed four games, the Bulldogs then beat Florida Christian 12-2 Saturday afternoon in the meaningless add-on game.
Peres struck out nine batters and allowed five hits in the win. Louie Ross was 4-for-5, Bent was 3-for-4 and Peres was 2-for-5 with a double and four RBI to lead the Bulldogs’ 16-hit performance.
Katie Rieser and Hannah Kelly each added two hits.
Baker had 16 base hits in the first three tournament games and 16 in the finale against Florida Christian.
Doral Acad. 000 002 0 – 2 1 1
Ida Baker 102 000 x – 3 5 1
W – Peres (13-1). L – Acevedo.
Ida Baker 000 000 0 – 0 4 0
Frostproof 000 002 x – 2 5 2
W – Jones. L Bent (0-1).
2B – Bent (IB).
Championship Game
Lake Brantley 100 000 0 – 1 5 3
Ida Baker 000 020 x – 2 7 1
W – Peres (14-1). L – Rohal.
2B – Rieser (IB).
Ida Baker 013 202 4 – 12 16 3
Fla .Christian 000 002 0 – 2 5 3
W – Peres (15-1). L – Perez.