People sold the Tiger softball team short this year. The South Harrison coach, among others, voted Worth County the last seed in the upcoming Albany tournament. After all, over half the Tiger starters this year are freshmen and sophomores. But Worth County overcame a ton of Bulldog baserunners and a two run deficit and won 5-4 to go to 2-0 for the season and 1-0 in the GRC. It was the first win for Worth County's girls softball team over South Harrison in quite some time.
A good omen happened for the Tigers in the bottom of the first inning. Kristen Andrews should have been out on a ground ball, but the umpire called an illegal pitch, wiping out the play and bringing Kristen back to the plate to bat. The umpire called another illegal pitch in the sequence and Kristen got on base instead of having to go back to the dugout. Pitchers cannot hop while delivering their pitch; the penalty is a ball. If it is borderline, the umpires usually don't call it; however, leaping or hopping with the pivot foot for pitchers is specifically prohibited by the rulebook. If Kristen had reached safely, then the play would have stood. South Harrison was obviously still thinking about the two illegal pitch calls because Kristen was able to score later in the inning when the catcher threw away the return throw to the pitcher to put Worth County up 1-0.
Rikky Hunt started for Worth County and pitched the whole game. She started off strongly with a 1-2-3 inning in the first, but ran into trouble in the second when she threw 12 out of her first 13 pitches for balls and walked the bases loaded. But she got out of the inning with only two runs scoring off a two run double. "I told her to relax and to play her game," said Coach Dave Gilland, who went out to settle down Rikky following the three walks. "There was no point thinking about what happened, because it already happened."
Worth County got into some more trouble in the third, but a good heads-up play saved a run when Sidney Troutwine dropped a pop fly, but had the presence of mind to throw to first to get the out and Rikky got out of the inning with a called third strike that looked like it might have been high and outside. South Harrison raised their lead to 3-1 in the top of the fourth but Worth County got it back when Sidney Troutwine showed some heads-up baserunning when South Harrison tried to throw to third to get her out after retiring a batter at first and threw it away, allowing her to score and cut it to 3-2.
In the fifth, with Kristen Andrews on first and Quinci Schottel on third, Quinci came off too far on a first and third situation and was picked off, but she escaped the rundown and scored as South Harrison threw the ball away again as Worth County tied it at 3. With Kristen on third and the infield in for a play at the plate, Katie Mullock singled past the drawn-in infield to put Worth County up 4-3. Jacklyn Brooks hit a triple over the right fielder's head to bring in Katie to make it 5-3. Claire Andrews caught a fly ball in the sixth as Rikky Hunt worked around a walk in the frame; she got another called strikeout as well. Although it didn't result in any runs, Taylor Raymond doubled over the left fielder's head to the wall after fighting off two two-strike pitches by fouling them off.
South Harrison led off the top of the seventh with an infield hit, a slow roller into the hole at short. Rikky Hunt forced a runner at second, but a ground rule double put runners on second and third with one out. The next batter grounded out to Rikky and she fielded it perfectly, looking back the runner at third and throwing to first; there was no advance on the play. The next batter hit a slow roller that looked like it would find the hole past second and tie the game at five. But Kristen Andrews knocked it down. Even though there was no play and a run scored, that play saved a run. The next batter hit a soft liner to Payton Adwell at third. Payton got tangled up with the runner, but managed to reach around her and snag the ball for the final out of the game.
Coach Dave Gilland said that there were lots of good things to come from the game, including the heads-up baserunning that led to some runs. "We battled the entire time," said Assistant Coach Bryce Shafar.
The JV lost 10-6 to South Harrison, but showed a lot of good things in the game. For the first time in quite some time, there are enough players to field a JV team, giving everyone a chance to play. Brooklyn White, Taylor Raymond (for the first time in a game situation), and Payton Adwell all tried their hand at pitching for the Tigers, giving Coach Dave Gilland more options at pitching behind Rikky Hunt. Victoria Moore and Taylor Raymond caught in the game. "This is a chance to show what you've got," said Gilland to his players afterwards. "These are good learning situations for you guys to be in. You guys listened and learned tonight."
The Tigers showed a lot of depth at hitting as well as speed on the basepaths. Kenna LaFollette showed a lot of speed on the basepaths, twice beating out slow rollers to second base to reach safely; she started a two-out rally in the first that resulted in two runs and she drove in a run in the fourth. Kristen Ross and Madison Cassavaugh also beat out infield hits. Anytime those three hit a ball on the ground, they have a chance of turning it into a hit. Nichole Aragon shot a double to the left field wall in the second that turned into a run. Payton Adwell got a solid single up the middle that brought in a run and Madison Cassavaugh laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt that brought in a run.
The Junior High won 14-0 as Haley Hunt made her pitching debut for the Tigers and pitched a shutout. That squad is loaded at pitcher as coaches Todd Simmons and April Healy have the luxury of using either Hunt or Grace Schottel at pitcher. Grace successfully tried her hand at catcher and threw a runner out stealing. Ashlyn Barnett, playing softball for the first time ever, got on base, scored a run, and fielded the ball well.
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