Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Shamrocks Stun Hamilton, Run the Table in Five Games

After a busy week last week, ending with a 4-0 record over Class 3 Maryville, and HDC conference foe's Gilman City, Tri-County, and Grundy Co., the Lady Shamrocks' run their winning streak to 8 games with 1-0 extra inning victory over the MEC power Penny Lady Hornets from Hamilton in a 9 inning pitchers duel last night.  

The Lady Shamrocks came into the game knowing they had a tall task in front of them, facing All-State Pitcher, Julia Kanoy who took the mound for the Lady Hornets.  Kanoy was as advertised, and was dominant on the mound, ending the night with 18 strikeouts over her 9 innings of work.  However, it was the Lady Shamrocks that were able to take advantage of a miscue, turning that into the winning run in the top half of the 9th inning.  Both pitchers, Carly Rinehart for the Shamrocks and Kanoy for the Hornets were on their game from the start.  Kanoy stayed perfect through 8 innings of work, allowing no walks, no hits, and striking out 17 Shamrock batters through 8 innings.  Rinehart was efficient, staying ahead of batters with strikes early, and allowing her defense to make plays.  She ended the night surrendering no runs on only 4 hits, with 11 strikeouts and 4 walks......with all four walks being intentional.  

The Hornets were able to threaten in the bottom of the 4th when a one out double by the Hornet SS Allen put her in scoring position.  Rinehart was able to coax a pop out to Kami Gibson at 3rd for the second out, bringing Kanoy to the plate for the second time.  With 1st base open, Coach Craig elected to walk Kanoy intentionally to pitch to Brown, who had previously struck out in the 2nd.  Brown followed with a ground ball to Ruby Heintz at short.  Heintz had to go to her right to make a play on the ball while the runner from second was trying to advance to 3rd.  Heintz, who wasn't going to have a play at first, attempted to get Allen going into third but the ball glanced off her helmet and away from Gibson, the Hamilton base runner headed home in an attempt to score but Gibson was able to quickly gather the ball and fire a throw to Shamrock catcher Emma Craig at home, who put on the tag for the 3rd out of the inning.  

Hamilton again loaded the bases with 2 outs in the 6th,  with another hit by the SS Allen, followed by an error and an intentional base on balls for the second time to Kanoy.  Brown then flied out to Fordyce in center to end the threat for the Hornets in the 6th.  A big moment in the bottom of the 7th was when the Lady Hornet catcher was able to reach on a dropped 3rd strike, putting a runner on 1st with one out.  With the 9 hitter at the plate, showing bunt, Shamrock catcher Emma Craig was able to snap a throw down to second baseman Trendi Johnson who slipped in behind the Hamilton runner to pick her off at 1st for the second out of the inning.  

Hamilton again loaded the bases in the bottom of the 8th on a lead off single and two intentional walks one to the 3 hitter Allen, and the other to pitcher Julia Kanoy for the 3rd time of the night.  The intentional walks paid off as Brown flew out to Shamrock right fielder Lola Breshears to end the Hornet threat in the 8th.  The 9th proved to be the deciding inning as the Lady Shamrocks, stymied by Kanoy to this point in the game, came to the plate determined to put the ball in play.  After some better at-bats the last couple innings, freshman SS Ruby Heintz led off the top of the 9th for the Lady Shamrocks.  Behind in the count after fouling off consecutive pitches from Kanoy, Heintz grounded a squibber to the mound that glanced off Kanoy's glove.  Kanoy was able to gather the ball, but with Heintz hustling down the line, hurried the throw to 1st, and overthrew her first baseman with the ball scooting down the right field line.  Heintz was able to end up sliding in safely at 3rd base.  With no outs and the winning run 60 feet away, Jaci Davis attempted to get a bunt down on a Kanoy riseball, but popped it up to the Hamilton catcher for the first out of the inning.  Kanoy then struck out Trendi Johnson for her 18th K of the night and the second out of the inning, bringing Jayliegh Robins the Shamrock first baseman and leadoff hitter to the plate for the 4th time in the game.  Her previous 3 at bats, Kanoy got the upper hand, striking out Robins all three times, but Robins was able to adjust and drove and 1 strike pitch up the middle for the Shamrocks first hit of the game, plating Heintz with the game's first run.  The Shamrock bats woke up somewhat as Carly Rinehart followed with a liner up the middle for the Shamrocks second hit of the game, advancing Robins to third, on the hit, and taking 2nd herself on the throw to 3rd base by the Hamilton center fielder.  With runners at 2nd and 3rd and 2 outs, Emma Craig smashed a hard liner that Swindler, the Hornet second baseman, was able to glove and throw to first for the 3rd out.   The bottom of the 9th brought up the 7-8-9 hitters for the Lady Hornets, a part of the lineup Rinehart had dominated thus far.  She went to work, striking out the first two batters, before the 9 hitter Pingleton popped out to Gibson at 3rd to end the game.  Offensively for the Lady Shamrocks, Ruby Heintz scored the lone run, with Jayliegh Robins driving in the only run for the Lady Shamrocks, going 1-4 on the night.  Carly Rinehart then added a 9th inning single as well.  

Shamrocks shut out Maryville 3-0

Carly Rinehart struck out 13 Spoofhound hitters on the way to a 3-0 victory last Monday evening in Maryville.  The Lady Shamrocks were able to strike first offensively when Carly Rinehart reached on a one out single in the top of the 1st.  Emma Craig followed with an RBI double, and ended up at 3rd on a throwback to the infield.  Rainey Fordyce was able to follow with a hard ground ball to 2nd, scoring Craig from 3rd.  That was only scoring for rest of the game until Shamrocks were able to push an insurance run across in the 7th, after loading the bases with nobody out.  Trendi Johnson scored on a passed ball as she was running for Baily Briggs who had reached on a single.  The Shamrocks left runners at 2nd and 3rd in both the 3rd and 4th innings, but couldn't get the hits to push the runs across.  The 3 runs proved to be enough offensively,  as senior Shamrock hurler Carly Rinehart struck out 8 out of the first 9 batters she faced.  She surrendered two harmless singles to Maryville freshman pitcher Ella Schulte in the bottom of the 4th and 6th innings, and then gave up a lead off single to Spoofhound senior catcher Briley Watkins leading off the bottom of the 7th.  She surrendered her only walk of the game to Ashlynn Alexander following the single by Watkins, putting multiple runners on base for the first time of the night for the Spoofhounds.  A ground out to Heintz at SS, moved the runners to 2nd and 3rd, and brought the tying run to the plate.  Maryville left fielder reached on a fielders choice, when Shamrock third baseman Kami Gibson made a fake throw to first, coaxing Briley Watkins off third base.  The senior was able to dive back in safely as Gibson's throw back to third was just a little late.  Rinehart struck out the next batter for her 13th K of the game, as the Maryville second baseman C. Viau popped up to Rinehart to end the game.  

Shamrocks shut out Gilman City 9-0

The Lady Shamrocks were able to come away from Gilman City with a 9-0 HDC conference win behind stellar pitching from Shamrock senior Emma Craig, and a balanced offensive attack that put pressure on the Gilman City defense all night long.  Camden Castleberry and Kami Gibson led the way offensively, with both hitting home runs for the Lady Shamrocks.  Camden drove in 2 runs with 2 hits and a home run, while Kami drove in 4 runs on 2 hits with a grand slam home run and a walk on the night.  Emma Craig, Jaci Davis, and Rainey Fordyce each added hits for the Shamrocks to round out their offensive attack.  Defensively Emma Craig, after walking one batter in the first inning, locked it down, striking out 12 Lady Hawk batters, and surrendering only 4 singles on the night.  

Shamrocks score 17 unanswered to beat HDC foe Tri-Co in 3 innings

Emma Craig once again took the mound for the Lady Shamrocks on back to back nights.  This game started a little differently however, with Tri Co leadoff hitter Carly Turner reaching on a dropped 3rd strike to start the game. A ground ball to second base for the first out of the game moved Turner to second.  Gutshall then walked and Turner went to 3rd on a passed ball to put runners at the corners for the Mustangs.  Ricki Cook got the games first hit up the middle, putting Tri-Co on the board first.  Craig ended the threat with two strikeouts to end the top half of the first.   It didn't take long for the Shamrock bats to take back control as they followed with 3 straight hits by Robins, Castleberry, and Craig to start the game, with Castleberry driving in Robins, and Craig driving in Castleberry to even the score after only 3 Shamrock batters.  3 more Shamrock runs scored in the 1st when Baily Briggs and Ruby Heintz singled and were driven home by Jaci Davis.  The Shamrocks batted around in each of the first 3 innings, plating 6 in the first, 5 in the second, and 6 more in the bottom of the 3rd to end the game by the mercy rule.  Freshman Jaci Davis led the way offensively for the Lady Shamrocks going 3 for 3 with 2 doubles and 5 RBI.  Emma Craig followed with 4 RBI's on two hits and a double.  Rainey Fordyce tripled and drove in a run, going 2-3.  Jayliegh Robins, Camden Castleberry, and Ruby Heintz each added 2 hits apiece, and Baily Briggs added a single and a pair of RBI's on the night as well.  The Shamrocks scored 17 runs on 14 hits, while the Mustangs scored a pair of runs on 2 hits.  Emma Craig was the winning pitcher, allowing 2 hits, striking out 8 and walking a pair in her 3 inning of work.  

Shamrocks potent offense, pitching proves too much for Grundy Co

A pair of Shamrock pitchers, senior Carly Rinehart, and freshman Erica Gerken combined to throw a 3 inning perfect game against HDC conference foe Grundy Co. last Thursday evening in Eagleville.  After a busy week of softball that saw the Shamrocks take wins at Maryville on Monday, Gilman City on Tuesday, and at home over Tri Co on Wednesday......Grundy Co proved no match for the Shamrocks who improved their record to 4-0 on the week, turning back the Lady Panther 15-0 in 3 innings.  The Lady Shamrocks offense erupted for 6 runs in the 1st and 7 in the 2nd,  before scoring a pair of runs in the 3rd to end the game.  Emma Craig, Jayliegh Robins, and Jaci Davis each added two hits apiece for the Shamrocks.  With Jayliegh Robins, Lily Shovick, Emma Craig, Carly Rinehart, and Camden Castleberry each hitting a double on the night.  Ruby Heintz, Halle Morgan, Katelyn Briggs and Baily Briggs each added singles in the balanced Shamrock offensive attack.  Carly Rinehart took the win for the Shamrocks going 2 innings, allowing no hits with 4 strikeouts.  Erica Gerken closed the game for the Lady Shamrocks, finishing with 1 strikeout.  


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