Brookstone unable to complete sweep of Landmark Christian

Brookstone and Landmark Christian split a doubleheader Wednesday afternoon, forcing a winner-take-all game between the No. 1 and No. 16 seeds Thursday at 4 p.m. in the Class A-private school series.

Brookstone won the opener 6-4, while Landmark Christian rallied for a 10-2 win in the nightcap.

In the first game Helen Snavely (17-1) overcame an erratic second inning to pitch a complete-game, 6-4 win, striking out 12 batters and allowing only one hit.

In addition, Snavely powered a two-run single that broke a 4-4 tie in the sixth inning.

With a 3-0 lead, Snavely gave up four runs in the second on five walks and one hit as she was charged with four illegal pitches.

"The umpires said she was losing contact with the rubber before she made the pitch and it definitely bothered her rhythm," Brookstone coach Nathan McConnell said. "But she settled down and we got some timely hits to win.

"What I liked (in the first game) was the way we kept at it and did not give up," he added.

Snavely had a chance to give Brookstone the lead in the bottom of the second, but she popped up with the bases loaded. She singled in the fifth inning and her courtesy runner, Antonia Nunley, scored all the way from second on an error to tie the game and set the stage for the game winner. Helen and her sister, Katherine, each had three hits in the win.

In the second contest,

McConnell started freshman Zoe Paul while the War Eagles countered with Julia Allen. Both starters were out after the second inning.

As the visitors, Brookstone jumped on Allen with two hits and used an error to score twice in the top of the first. But the lead didn't last long.

The War Eagles scored three times in the first to take the lead 3-2 and from there scored in every inning, eventually building an eight-run lead in the fifth to force an end to the gamer by the mercy rule.

Paul gave up six runs in the first two innings but was the victim of three errors. Only one was earned. In all, seven of the 10 scored by Landmark Christian were unearned.

"If you make six errors in a game, you are not going to win, especially in the playoffs. Six errors, that's six runs right there." said McConnell after the second game." We are up 1-0 (in the series) and to get to the next round, I felt we were going to need some pitching and I thought it was the best time to start someone else besides Snavely."

"Really both Paul and her relief, Haley Johnson, pitched well enough to win, but we didn't back them up. One wheel would fall off and when we thought it was fixed, another came off," McConnell said.

The biggest bat for the War Eagles was catcher Annalisa Chavez, who had a triple and a double and knocked in three runs. She also had the only hit in the first game against Snavely. The first game starter Madison Schmidtlkofer (16-6) came in relief of Allen after the first and got the win.

Wednesday at Brookstone

Game 1

Landmark 040 000 0--4 1 3

Brookstone 300 012 x--6 12 1

WP-Helen Snavely (17-1). LP-Madison Schmidtlkofer (15-6). LH- LC- Annalisa Chavez 1x2, RBI; B-Helen Snavely 3x4, 2RBI, Katherine Snavely 3x4,RBI, Naeisha McClain 2x3 2 2B, RBI.

Game 2

Brookstone 200 00--2 6 6

Landmark 332 11--10 8 1

WP-Schmidtlkofer (16-6). LP-Zoe Paul (1-3). LH-LC-Chavez 2x3, 2B, 3B, 3RBI; Brookstone-H. Snavely 3x3, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI.

This story was originally published October 21, 2015 at 8:14 PM with the headline "Brookstone unable to complete sweep of Landmark Christian ."