Wombles’ first inning slam propels Saukees to run-rule victory over Blue Devils

QUINCY — Talk about a grand entrance.

After the Pittsfield softball team’s first three batters of Monday’s game against Quincy High School reached base, Saukees sophomore pitcher and cleanup hitter Emma Wombles jumped on the first pitch she saw from Blue Devils hurler Carlee Gilker and hit a towering grand slam to left field.

“It was amazing,” Wombles said. “It’s great to get things started off strong.”

The ball sailed well over the temporary fence at Avenue of Lights Field and nearly rolled to the base of the permanent fence about 280 feet away.

“It felt really good coming off the bat, so I was like, ‘That was it,’” Wombles said.

The Saukees never looked back, adding 10 more runs and finishing off the Blue Devils 14-4 in five innings.

Wombles has hit four home runs with her traveling team, but this was the first grand slam of her career and her first home run in 68 career at-bats with the Saukees.

“It means a lot,” Wombles said. “I had those home runs before, but making that appearance in school ball means a lot.”

Saukees coach Ariana White was equally thrilled.

“It was an awesome moment for her,” White said. “I was so excited for her. She’s been showing a lot of growth over the last couple years.”

Quincy coach Anjay Heinecke said Wombles’ grand slam zapped the Blue Devils’ energy.

“I feel like our hype kind of lacked the rest of the game,” Heinecke said.

An energized Saukees squad continued to pile on. Two innings later, Taylor Peebles launched a two-run home run that extended the Saukees’ lead to 6-1.

“The pitch was in my zone, and I knew it was going to go somewhere,” Peebles said. “It felt good coming off the bat.”

Peebles said the Saukees played free and easy from that point forward.

“I think we got more comfortable, and it kind of just flowed from there,” Peebles said.

Pittsfield tacked on five more runs in the fourth inning and three in the fifth to take a 14-3 lead. The Blue Devils scored one run on a ground out by Avary Hlubek in the bottom of the fifth, but Wombles worked around two singles with two outs, striking out Kendyl Byquist to end the inning and put the mercy rule into effect.

White said the Saukees carried some momentum with them from a competitive 12-7 loss to Carrollton in Friday’s season opener.

“We left the game with Carrollton with some confidence knowing that we could hang with a team like Carrollton,” White said. “It felt good to be able to put it all together here today and show both sides of the ball. We played some good defense behind our pitcher, and our offense was lights out today. It’s nice to know that the girls had that confidence from that game.”

Peebles, who had an RBI double in her final at-bat against Carrollton, had a chance to follow that up with a 4-for-4 effort on Monday, but Quincy shortstop Ariana Adorno ranged to her left to field Peebles’ bid for a base hit and threw out Peebles at first to end the fifth inning. Peebles finished 3 for 4 with three RBIs.

“It felt amazing to go 3 for 4,” Peebles said. “The shortstop made a really good play on that one. She’s my teammate on my travel ball team, so I’ve got to give it to her on that one.”

The Saukees (1-1) are back in action Tuesday against Augusta Southeastern, while the Blue Devils (1-1) have a full week off until a road date with Camp Point Central on March 31, which precedes their Western Big 6 Conference opener against Sterling on April 1.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Heinecke said. “We have four practices this week to be able to work out some of the kinks. Hopefully next week we can come back strong for conference (play).

“Having some practices early in the season really helps us because once we really get into the season, we play four or five games a week and most of the time we only have one practice day. Once we get into the season, it’s really hard to reset.”