Rever strong in circle to help lead Indian Hills past Butler by Chris Iseman of The Record
POMPTON PLAINS – Jackie Rever wasn’t sure when, or if, she would be able to step back into the circle again.
The Indian Hills junior was pitching in the first game of the fall season when a line drive back up the middle struck her in the face so hard it bent the mask she was wearing. Rever suffered a concussion, sidelining her for about five months.
She finally was cleared to start throwing again in February. And through the first two weeks of the Braves’ season, she’s given Indian Hills another strong pitcher alongside Angela Saric.
Rever delivered a solid performance on Saturday while Indian Hills’ offense backed her up with plenty of run support in a 6-1 win over Butler in the Blue and Gold Tournament at Hillview Elementary School.
“She’s been coming on,” coach Joe Leicht said of Rever, who yielded nine hits and struck out six batters. “She had the gruesome injury, which cost her basically five or six months but she’s done a tremendous job.”
Adriana Saab finished 3-for-4 with a triple, two runs scored and one RBI.
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Maria DeOliveira went 3-for-4 with a double, a run and two RBI, while Kelly Hoover was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.
The bottom third of Indian Hills lineup finished 6-for-12 and drove in four runs.
The Braves gave Rever an early lead with an RBI single from DeOliveira and RBI double from Hoover in the second.
Julia Blezow drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the fourth, while RBI singles from Saric and DeOliveira in the fifth put the Braves up, 5-0.
Indian Hills tacked on another in the sixth as Merrick Gourhan hit a one-out triple and then scored on a triple from Saab.
“Our at-bats were pretty good,” Leicht said. “We’ve been making contact each game better and better, so hopefully we can continue to do that.”
Indian Hills also got a nice defensive play from Blezow in the fifth.
With runners on first and second and two outs, Chloe Wright singled to right. But Blezow came up firing and threw the runner out at home.
Rever, meanwhile, ran into trouble at times but did a nice job working out of it.
After striking out the first two batters in the second, Rever surrendered a double to Amber VanderGoot. But Rever recovered and struck out the next batter to escape the inning unscathed.
The junior then pitched out of a jam in the fourth as Kayla Carr hit a one-double double and Samantha Beck singled.
But Rever induced a pair of groundouts to get out of the inning.
Butler’s only run came in the sixth when Beck singled and the ball got by the outfielder, allowing her come all the way around and score.
“My team was definitely there to back me up when I got down, which was good,” Rever said. “I struggled at times, but I think them picking me up really helps.”