Kara Staton's monster home run, which carried about 290 feet to the baseball fence and struck one of the billboards, was one of the few bright spots in Worth County's 10-4 loss to Princeton Tuesday. There is no rest for the weary, as the Tigers now have to travel to play a highly touted Gallatin squad Thursday.
Princeton has been like Kryptonite against both Worth County and North Harrison in recent years, and it didn't help Worth County's cause when their lone senior, Aivry Griffin, was plunked in the face by an errant throw during Princeton's warmups. She tried to play, but the swelling ballooned up, and she came out in the middle of the first inning.
Seemingly demoralized by the turn of events, the Tigers committed five errors in the first four innings as the Blue Tigers built up a 9-0 lead. They were timing and crushing throughout those four innings as out of their ten hits during that stretch, six of them were extra base hits as their batters were jumping on any straight fastball thrown by pitcher Ali Brown. Meanwhile, Princeton pitcher Kelsey Goodin's pitches were moving all over the place, and Worth County's batters were chasing her high pitches.
But Goodin tired in the fourth and Worth County had a glimmer of hope; Brylee Rush singled, Taylor Sanders advanced her, and Lanie Cousatte singled her to third. Becca Smith squibbed a grounder down the third base line that scored Rush to break the shutout and make it 9-1. Hailey Adwell was hit by a pitch to finish Goodin.
Mackenzie Dunkin came on in relief, and she pounded the plate, mixing in a drop ball and change from time to time and hitting the outside corner when she needed a strikeout. Worth County got enough good swings on her to get some runs across and go the distance, and they settled down and played much better in the field, but it was too late.
In the Tiger fifth, Kynah Steele got her third hit of the day, a single just past short. She was another bright spot for the Tigers, getting three hits and retiring eight Princeton batters without an error from her shortstop position. Autumn Cousatte reached on an error and Kara Staton beat out a scratch hit to load the bases. Brylee Rush grounded out to get Steele home to make it 9-2. Grace Kelly grounded out in the Princeton sixth to make it 10-2. It would have been worse, but Hailey Adwell, moved to center after Griffin's injury, caught the first of two towering fly balls.
Consecutive doubles from Hailey Adwell and Ali Brown brought home Worth County's third run. In the Princeton seventh, Hailey Adwell caught a towering fly ball and catcher Autumn Cousatte picked a Princeton runner off first to kill a rally.
The highlight of the day came when Staton caught hold of one of Dunkin's pitches and dropped it in left field 290 feet away, where it bounced off one of the billboards.
No comments:
Post a Comment