Madi shut out Ballard for five innings and the Falcons knocked three balls to the fence at cavernous Lower Woodland for a homer and two triples, as the Falcons put the game out of reach in the first inning and rolled to an 8-1 win.

Sara led of the game with an awesome 11-pitch base on balls.  Mak stepped in next and hit a 220-foot bomb that's out of about any fenced field...except the one we were playing on, where the fence in left center is 248 feet.  As it was, the ball bounced off the fence, and by the time it was chased down Mak was rounding third with an "inside the park" homer.   Katie and Lauren singled, and an out later Maria and Kayla had back to back hits.   It was 4-0 out of the gates.

In the 3rd, Lauren led off with a walk.   Cat followed her with a frozen rope to the fence in left center for an rbi triple.  Maria knocked in Cat with the second of her three hits.

The next inning Katie hit her own missle to the left field fence for another triple.  Cat lined a sacrifice fly to score her.

In the 5th, Jade and Alison singled.   Sara, who'd already spent the day on base (again), dazzled everyone, including the Ballard infield, with the "be-ba-bu" bunt, in which she whipped the bat around behind her back as the pitcher delivered the ball, then dropped a one-handed slap bunt.   The stunned Ballard infield hesitated a moment and Sara was on.   Two batters later Lauren drove in Jade for our 8th and final run.

Meanwhile, Madi cruised.  Ballard has a solid team but on this day their hitters were overpowered.  The ball wasn't even put into play off Madi until the 4th inning.  She ended up allowing 1 hit in her five-inning stint, with 3 walks and 11 strikeouts.  

It was good to see the Big Sticks unlimber a bit, and for the 5th time in 7 games the undefeated Falcons held their opponent to 1 or fewer runs.