Mankato East’s talented freshman catcher E.J. Scharmer is a game changer.

Friday at Thomas Park, Scharmer atoned for a costly seventh-inning passed ball by belting a dramatic walk-off home run to give the Cougars a 3-2 win over Rochester John Marshall in the opener of a Big Nine Conference doubleheader sweep.

East won the second game 2-0.

“I knew I had two good hitters behind me so I just wanted to put it in a gap,” Scharmer said. “I needed to be patient because my first at-bats I was out in front, kind of lunging a little bit.

“I just waited an extra second and I had a better connection on it. The pitch was right down the middle and it felt good. I wasn’t sure at first but then I saw [the umpire’s] arms go up.”

East (11-3 overall, 11-1 in Big Nine) took advantage of a walk, a throwing error and infield singles from Laura Vanderhoof and Lexi DesLauriers to score two sixth-inning runs.

However, a couple of mental errors along with singles from Michelle Amundson and JaStene Lovelace enabled the Rockets to push across a pair of runs. The final run came when Vanderhoof’s blazing fastball was mishandled by Scharmer.

“I thought we just got a little nervous that last inning,” Scharmer said. “It was disappointing because we worked hard for our runs and had runners on base all the time. ... Next time, we’ll finish strong.”

Vanderhoof, a senior right-hander, fanned eight and walked two in winning a four-hitter.

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