By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – The most prized possession in the Bedford North Lawrence dugout is the home run chain. It’s worth little in terms of quality craftsmanship, a necklace made from cheap plastic rather than precious metals, more Temu than Kay.
It was worth its weight in gold when draped around Tori Nikirk’s neck. She wears it well.
Nikirk’s three-run blast in the second inning was the ultimate difference as the Stars conquered Class A No.5 Orleans 5-3 on Monday afternoon. Kendall Graves slugged a solo homer, and Macee Nicholson went the distance in the circle as BNL (14-7) continued its surge during the second half of the regular season.
Counting on home runs to produce the bulk of the offense is living dangerously, like relying on the lottery for a retirement plan. BNL coach Brad Gilbert would rather manufacture runs with consistent hitting, rather than waiting for the big bombs.
“We’re not going to win a bunch of games if we’re just a home-run hitting team,” Gilbert said, then had to smile. “But . . .
”I’m pretty thankful we put some good swings on it.”
Graves gave the Stars a quick lead in the first with her fifth homer of the season. BNL added another run early in the second when Karsyn Coleman walked, scampered to second when a pickoff throw bounced away, and took third on a wild pitch. Dalanie Davis gouged a RBI single to right, and Bella Warren belted a double to deep left. With two outs, with an 0-2 count, Nikirk hammered her bomb to left for a 5-0 lead.
“I was just trying to hit the ball solid,” said Nikirk, who hit her first homer since clubbing three during the season-opening road trip to Tennessee in late March. “That’s our goal right now, just hit line drives. That one just happened to fly.”
“The exciting thing was it was with two strikes,” Gilbert said. “She was just looking to put the ball in play, squared it up and the ball traveled.”
Orleans (11-3) battled back in the third. Hard-hit singles by Elizabeth Mahan and Maddy Spires, plus a BNL error, set up the first run, and Adrian Abel doubled to the gap in left-center for the second run. Chelsea Ralph reached on another error to chase home another run, and Ava Cooper singled to left to load the bases. But the Stars caught Ralph straying too far around second base for the third out of the frame.
From that point, the pitchers took over. Nicholson allowed three more hits during the last four innings but stranded those runners. She struck out 6. Izzie Rutherford pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings in relief for the Bulldogs.
“Macee pitched well,” Gilbert said. “She hit her spots really well. She had her off-speed stuff working.”
Mahan had two hits for the Bulldogs.
“We were there, just waiting for something to catch,” Orleans coach Will Owens said. “When one gets hot, they all seem to get hot. We have to have a little more control, some better communication. It was the perfect game to get us ready for the sectional.”
Nikirk, Graves and Warren (two doubles) all had two hits for the Stars, who had three runners thrown out on the bases.
“That was a good win,” Gilbert said. “They’re solid. They were going to put it in play, and we had to be ready.”
BNL has won five of its last six games, and the Stars still have a dozen games on the packed schedule during the final weeks of the regular season.
“We’re communicating very well and pushing ourselves,” Nikirk said. “We know what we’re capable of doing. We know what we have to do, so we need to keep pushing for that.”
“We’re going to have them stacked up,” Gilbert said. “We’re going to go compete.”
The Stars will visit Barr-Reeve on Tuesday.
