The Chesterton softball team worked extra innings Friday afternoon and picked up a 3-1 victory in nine innings at Hebron.

“The key for us going in was going to be pitching and playing defense well enough to keep us in the game until we started hitting,” Chesterton coach Louann Hopson said. “We did both of those things tonight.”

Hebron scored the game’s first run in the fourth inning after a leadoff single, sacrifice bunt and a double.

It took until the sixth inning for the Trojans to tie the score as pinch-hitter Amanda Dujmovich reached on an error. Sammie Howard re-entered to run and moved to second on Shelby Carter’s sacrifice bunt.

Megan Tymorek walked and both runners moved up on a passed ball. Megan Matheny’s two-out single plated Howard with the game’s tying run.

“The Linderman girl is a top pitcher and we played against a very slow off-speed pitcher (Thursday) night,” Hopson said. “We knew it was going to take a while to catch up.”

The score remained that way until the top of the ninth when Matheny led off with a walk. Jill Bohnert executed a sacrifice bunt and Matheny scored on a double by Mallory McKee.

McKee moved to third on a ground out and scored on a single by Sarah Richards to set the final score.

“Hebron is a quality team,” Hopson said. “This was a good win for us.”

Sydney Cooley worked all nine innings to get the win for Chesterton, while allowing just four hits and striking out four.

“Sydney had a solid game and the defense was outstanding,” Hopson said. “Our infielders were very busy. Sammie (Howard), Taylor (Bissonnette), Sarah (Richards) and Mallory (McKee) all had a great game. Those are the people we want to be busy.”

SCORING BY INNINGS

Chesterton 000 001 002 -- 3 6 1

Hebron 000 100 000 -- 1 4 1

2B -- Mallory McKee ©. Pitching Summary -- Chesterton -- Sydney Cooley (9 IP, 4 H, 4 K, 0 BB). WP -- Cooley.

Posted 4/16/2012