Bowsher claims City championship
5/30/2014The Bowsher softball team captured the City League championship Thursday after their starting pitcher did something none of the Rogers Rams had seen before.
Throw a changeup.
Alexa Boisselle was dominant on the mound for the Rebels, thanks in large part to her changeup that fooled hitters left and right.
“Most of the pitchers in the City League just throw one speed,” said Rogers coach Kelli Keel. “No one has ever thrown [a changeup] to us this season.”
Boisselle was dominant and threw all seven innings for the complete-game win. She gave up five hits and two earned runs, and struck out six as Bowsher cruised to a 7-3 win at Scott Park.
She was also named the game's most valuable player.
"All of her pitches were working," said Bowsher head coach Jolene Brewer. "She's been strong the last couple games, and that's why I was confident to throw her."
The only trouble spot for Boisselle was in the fifth, when Rogers scored all of its runs.
Boisselle gave up a two-RBI triple to Jamela Warren, and allowed another run to score on a pitch in the dirt as Bowsher's lead shrunk to 4-3.
Warren was 1-for-4 with two RBIs.
Boisselle then turned to the pitch that kept the Rams scoreless through four innings, striking out back-to-back hitters with her changeup. She got Anesia DeBagio to ground out to end the inning.
"Rogers is a good-hitting team, so we knew they would catch on to her fastballs early." Brewer said. "So we definitely saved [her changeup] and curveball for late."
The Rebels answered the rally with three runs in the bottom half, getting help from four Rogers errors. Emma Cowell reached with one out when Rams' first baseman Cadi Jacobs failed to handle a ground ball, then allowed Cowell to advance on a bad throw.
Boisselle knocked in Cowell with a single to left, making it 5-3. Victoria Turnbough reached on an error by the catcher, and scored on a hit from Shanese Garrett.
Turnbough went 1-for-3 with an inside-the-park home run and two RBIs.
Bowsher added one more on Ashley Audi's sacrifice bunt.
"You always want to see your players come back and fight," Brewer said. "When they came back and did that, I knew they had it [won]."
Rogers finished with seven errors, an issue that plagued them throughout the season.
“Sometimes we look really good and we look like a college team,” Keel said. “And then there's times when errors get the best of us.”