By Donald Heath
Special for the Effingham Herald
GUYTON – No one’s perfect but Wednesday South Effingham righthander Bailey Kendziorski came pretty close Aug. 31.
A game delayed more than 90 minutes because of lightning in the area, ended with Kendziorski sending Glynn Academy back to Brunswick almost as empty handed as it gets -- no runs, no hits, no walks, no balls hit out of the infield.
The junior extended her scoreless inning streak to 14 and, more importantly, extended the Mustangs’ winning streak to five during a 10-0 victory over the Red Terrors in a game shortened to five innings because of the mercy rule.
“I think my mentality from last year to this year has improved,” Kendziorski said. “In a way, I think I’m more motivated, especially with such a great offense and defense behind me. It’s easy to throw that way.”
It was hard to find a flaw. She retired the first 11 Glynn batters before Ava Dunn reached on an infield error.
Kendziorski fanned the next three batters before second baseman Emma Darrow covered up a mental error by alertly covering first on a slow roller hit to the right side of the infield to end the game.
Kendziorski, who watched the play from the mound, was supposed to cover.
“I know, I know,” she said with a slight laugh.
No one’s perfect. But …
Kendziorski struck out seven, three looking, and threw only 10 balls (non-strikes) during her 59-pitch outing.
“I’m proud of the team and as a team we were able to complete (the no-hitter),” she said. “I’m excited for the future to see how many more of those we can do.”
After a long summer of travel ball, Kendziorski started slowly, but seemingly has found extra speed on her fastball to go along with her pinpoint command (just two walks in 31 innings). She fanned nine in five scoreless innings against South Paulding (in a 10-1 win) during a weekend tournament in Winder.
“Obviously, that’s great to see out of her,” SEHS coach Adam Newland said. “As much as you’ve come to expect (great performances), she’s exceeding expectations this year.”
And the Mustangs seem to have found their stride. During the Winder tourney, they avenged an early loss to Emanuel County Institute while winning all four games.
Against Glynn, a seven-run third-inning, highlighted by Izzy Wilkins’ mammoth grand slam over the center-field fence, showed the hitting is coming around too.
“We feel good about where we are,” Newland said. “We talked about using (the weekend in Winder) to propel us forward and get us on a good run. We just want to keep it going.”
SEHS (7-3, 2-1 Region 2-AAAAAA) had a doubleheader with Lakeside (Evans) rained out. It will be played Sept. 17 in Evans.
The Mustangs will find out where they stand in the region quickly. They had a key doubleheader scheduled with Grovetown on Sept. 6, then will host Brunswick in a doubleheader Thursday (Sept. 8) before traveling to Effingham County for a single game with the Rebels on Tuesday (Sept. 13).
