Powering Past The Competition

Editor's note: For the latest Batavia baseball recap, click .

After being shut out for the first time all season, Batavia’s softball team recovered in fine fashion with a 24-run outburst during three victories, capped by Saturday’s doubleheader sweep of West Aurora.

Once again, the Bulldogs’ “Power Company” spearheaded the offensive onslaught, as three more home runs against the Blackhawks (5-19) raised the team’s single-season total to 32.

That number is good enough for a seventh-place ranking on the Illinois High School Association’s all-time, single-season standard, and the Bulldogs (16-5) still have at least three more weeks left to continue climbing the list.

Sophomore Katie Ryan smacked a pair of home runs to lift the Bulldogs to a 7-2 Game 1-victory over the Blackhawks.

After West Aurora jumped out on top 2-0, Ryan stepped to the plate and promptly cut the Blackhawks’ lead in half with her solo home run to deep left in the third inning.

In the fifth, Ryan returned and smacked a two-run home run over the fence in left-center as part of the Bulldogs’ five-run rally. The home run was Ryan’s fourth of the week and team-leading 14^th of the season.

Katie Neubauer went the distance to improve her pitching record to 6-3.

In the nightcap, Batavia grabbed a 2-0 first-inning lead as Ryan led off the game with a single and eventually scored on Neubauer’s RBI single. Brooke Nelson followed with a two-out double to score drive in Neubauer with the second run of the inning.

Ryan, who finished with four base hits during the doubleheader, helped ignite a three-run fifth with a single before Neubauer delivered her second RBI hit of the game to up Batavia’s lead to 3-0.

Christine Lynam then supplied the exclamation point with a two-run home run that provided more than enough support for starting pitcher Meghan Fabian (1-0).

Last Thursday, Batavia avenged an earlier 8-7 loss to Elgin with a wild 12-10 victory over the host Maroons in Elgin.

Emily Dorjath, Nelson and Ryan all hit home runs off of Maroons starting pitcher Jenna Perryman, and the Bulldogs capitalized on six Elgin defensive miscues. Batavia put three runs on the board in both the third and fourth innings and added a four-spot in the sixth in support of winning pitcher Nelson.

Batavia began its week with a 15-1, five-inning rout of Streamwood on May 3. Ryan and Nelson each had two-run home runs, while Nelson fired a one-hitter with seven strikeouts.

The lone blemish of the week came during a 3-0 loss to rival Geneva on May 4.

Despite out-hitting the Vikings 8-6, the Bulldogs were unable to score against senior pitcher Kelly McCaffrey (15-6). Batavia, which stranded eight runners, also committed five errors as Neubauer was saddled with the loss.

Batavia plays host to Upstate Eight Conference leader St. Charles North Wednesday.