Lilly Sifrit of Elida is congratulated by teammates after hitting a two-run home run against Shawnee on Tuesday at Dorothy Edwards Field.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
ELIDA — Lilly Sifrit of Elida has played just five games at the varsity level.
It’s a fact that’s hardly noticeable when she’s out on the field and her early season numbers reflect that with four wins inside the circle and a batting average of .684 in 19 at-bats.
On Tuesday night in Elida’s WBL opener, Sifrit had her two-way skills on full display again, tossing 12 strikeouts in a six-inning complete game, and hitting a pair of home runs in a 12-1 win over Shawnee.
“We’ve been looking forward to her coming up for a long time,” Elida coach Hillary Overholt said. “She’s a hard worker, a quiet kid and you can’t ask for much more than she’s already given us in these first five games.”
Sifrit stuck out seven batters in the first three innings. In the bottom of the third, she stepped up to the plate with one out and sent a 2-0 fastball over the fence just left of center field.
The Bulldogs (4-1, 1-0 WBL) went on to score two more times in the inning, courtesy of an error and an RBI single from Carly Chiles, who went 2 for 4 and drove in a pair of runs.
Shawnee (0-5, 0-1 WBL) answered with a run in the top of the fourth, but Elida tacked on five more runs in the bottom of the frame to pull away for good.
Liv Walters led off with a triple, stayed at third on a bunt single from Delaney Miller and trotted home after Sifrit blasted her second home run of the game, this time to right-center field on a 1-0 fastball.
After going hitless the first time through the order, Elida manufactured its 12 runs on 10 hits and took advantage of four Shawnee errors.
“We jumped on a lot of pitches early that maybe weren’t the best, but we’re working on making those in-game adjustments,” Overholt said. “It’s all about being smart at the plate and that’s something we did a lot better job of doing after the first few innings.”
Shawnee loaded the bases in the fifth inning, but Sifrit neutralized the threat by forcing a popout from Anna Menke. She finished the game with a pitching line of one earned run on four hits and 12 strikeouts in six innings. She threw 66 of her 96 pitches for strikes and faced 24 batters.
Liv Walters capped off Elida’s win with a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning to enforce the run rule. She went 2 for 4 with two RBI and a pair of runs scored in the win.
Shawnee’s Addie Melson was charged with the loss after allowing five earned runs on four hits in three innings. Taylor Lichty was 2 for 3 with a run scored for the Indians.
Box score (r-h-e)
Shawnee 000100X 1-4-4
Elida 003504X 12-10-1
Shawnee 1 (ab-r-h-rbi
Addie Melson 2-0-0-0, Taylor Lichty 3-1-2-0, Anna Menke 3-0-1-0, R Rhodes 3-0-0-0, Bailey Bullock 3-0-0-0, Gabby Jones 3-0-0-0, Michaela Browning 2-0-0-0, Lyla Rosas 2-0-0-0, Addie Neth 2-0-1-0, Totals: 23-1-4-0.
Elida 12 (ab-r-h-rbi)
Lilly Sifrit 4-2-2-3, Ava Jackson 4-1-1-0, Leah Ramirez 2-3-2-0, Carly Chiles 4-1-2-2, Kaelynn Smith 4-0-0-0, Kayla Hunter 1-1-1-0, Abby Daugherty 3-0-0-0, Cheyenne Bowers 1-0-0-0, Liv Walters 4-2-2-2, Delaney Miller 2-1-0-1, Totals: 29-12-10-8
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so)
Lilly Sifrit (W) 6.0-4-1-1-1-12
Addie Melson (L) 3.0-4-6-5-3-1
Reach Chris Howell at 567-242-0468 or on Twitter at @Lima_Howell
