CHARLESTON- The Greenbrier East Lady Spartans went on the road on Tuesday night to George Washington to battle the Lady Patriots and despite holding a lead in the sixth inning, the Spartans lost 6-5 in a nail biter of a finish where a play at home plate decided the outcome.
Greenbrier East took an early 1-0 in the first inning after Campbell Bundy’s RBI single scored Reagan Cline.
Spartan starter Emily Pyles cruised through the first innings and no runs were scored after the first frame until the fifth.
In the top of the fifth, East added another run when Ally Martin singled, and the GW’s Ava Armstrong had an error that allowed Cline to come across home plate for a 2-0 lead.
The Patriots (5-2) gained some life in the bottom half when Campbell Lunsford singled and advanced to second base on an error. Lunsford would steal third on the next at-bat and score on a groundout by Kacie Long and cut the Greenbrier East (4-4) lead to 2-1. That score remained after five.
After a scoreless top of the sixth from the Spartans, George Washington got the bats going in the bottom.
They started the frame with three straight singles and loaded the bases. Armstrong then hit a sacrifice fly that tied the game at 2-all with one out and runners on second and third base. Georgia Walker followed with an RBI base knock and a sac fly from Long two batters later made it 4-2, Pats. A 2-run single from Faith Tetrick capped the scoring and George Washington had taken a 6-2 lead after six.
East put up a fight in the final inning, however, showing resiliency and a never-say-die-attitude.
East’s Lacy Patriacca hit a bases loaded single that scored two runs–one by an error in the field– and the Spartans had trimmed the deficit to 6-4. Then, Kennah Collins knocked Haylee Heaster in with a base hit that made it 6-5 with two outs. Jenna Groves then stepped in for the Spartans and hit a slow roller to third which Tetrick bobbled. During her misplay of the ball, Patriacca took off for home, but Tetrick gathered the ball and threw to the plate and the catcher, Stitler, tagged her for the final out of the night.
Martin, Bundy, Collins, and Groves all had two hits for East. Cline scored three runs.
The Spartans outhit GW 11-6.
Greenbrier East will be back in action this Saturday at home against Oak Hill.
