Neubauer helps Sterling top Dixon

DIXON - Sometimes, even unearned runs are earned.

Take the two runs Sterling scored against NCIC Reagan rival Dixon in the fifth inning of Thursday's 4-3 victory at Ted Trulock Field. The scores go down in the books as unearned because of a dropped pop-up in foul territory by catcher Kimi Wegner, but by no means were they freebies.

And the only direction Duchesses fingers were pointing was at themselves.

"It kind of frustrates me," Dixon first baseman Kayla Gridley said. "I could've called (Kimi) off and made the catch. It's frustrating that we give away those two runs. I should've helped her."

Instead, the Warriors helped themselves. Brea Neubauer put her team up 4-1 after swatting a slow single up the middle after the miscue. Abbi Staples and Niki Rivera went wee, wee, wee all the way home as the ball bounced off second base on Neubauer's second chance.

"It was a little closer than we would have liked," Neubauer said of the score. "We've been practicing a lot of offense lately."

Still, it was hard to come by against Dixon and pitcher Alicia Eastman, who gave up five hits and struck out five despite pitching the entire game with a bruise on her pitching hand that she suffered Tuesday.

Neubauer, who scored the first of Sterling's two first-inning runs after hitting a double, was quick to praise her rivals, who answered in the bottom of the fifth with two runs to make it 4-3.

"They were pretty gutsy at the plate," Neubauer said. "They were swinging the bats."

Dixon was puttin' on the hits as Sterling lefty Kelli Long put on the pressure in the fifth. Twice with two on, two out and two strikes the Duchesses came through with singles.

Megan Kelly smacked the first one up the middle. Dixon cleanup hitter Kayla Gridley copied the hit to score Ali Dvorak and Gina Venier, who also singled with two strikes.

"I was standing on second and I was thinking, 'This is it,' " Venier said of Gridley's hit "That's what a clutch hit is."

Long, who finished with 10 strikeouts, got Eastman to line out to third to end the threat.