Alter is 'on fire'

PRINCETON JCT. — As a general rule, a softball team’s No. 9 hitter is not the first choice to come to bat in a clutch situation. But with the Pirates’ Ella Alter delivering her second late, clutch hit in as many games, it may be time to rewrite those rules.

Alter delivered a bases-loaded, two-out single in the bottom of the seventh yesterday to give West Windsor-Plainsboro South a 2-1 win over visiting Allentown. The game-winner came on the heels of Tuesday’s two-run homer that resulted in a 4-2 win over Hun.

Alter’s clutch hit did more than win the game. It actually bailed her Pirates teammates out after they nearly squandered a first-and-third, no-out situation in the seventh.

But thanks to Alter, everything ended happily for WW-PS and Pirates coach Nicole Arias seemed amazed by her first baseman’s exploits.

“Knock on wood, she has been absolutely phenomenal,” the South skipper said. “As a freshman, how many times has she been at bat with the pressure on? She’s been on fire.”

The Pirates had almost run themselves out of the inning after Anna Schnitzer had led off the seventh with a double to right and moved to third on a hard single back through the box by Liz Chudzik.

It was then that Jo Schutzer’s sacrifice bunt was parlayed by the Allentown defense into a rundown between third and home for the first out. A batter later, Allentown third baseman Sam Hantzepetros made a great play to her left to spear Jenna Modi’s hard grounder. She flipped the ball to shortstop Dana Sensi at third to cut down the lead runner for out No. 2.

A walk to Liz Mendez then loaded the bases and set the stage for Alter’s single up the middle.

“I love the pressure situations,” Alter said. “I saw that (the pitch) was right in the zone. It was right down the middle.”

After falling behind 1-0, South had tied the score in the fourth when Liz Hutner led off with a double and later scored on a sacrifice bunt by Chudzik.

While Alter was the offensive hero of the game, it was pitcher Chudzik who was the key defensive player of the game. The hurler struck out 10 and walked none while spreading four hits out over seven innings.

She gave the Redbirds little opportunity to score, retiring 12 straight batters at one point and stranding the potential go- ahead run on third base in the seventh with a clutch strikeout.

“Liz did a great job today,” Arias said. “She mowed people down in pressure situations.”

Allentown  010 000 0 — 1 4 0

WWP South (9-1) 000 100 1 — 2 6 0

WP — Chudzik LP — Erndl. 2B: A — Erndl; W — Hutner, Schnitzer. RBI: A — Ellerson; W — Chudzik, Alter. K’s — Chudzik 10, Erndl 2.