FAIRLEA- On Wednesday evening, the Greenbrier East Lady Spartans held their senior night festivities where they honored each of the seniors–Ally Martin, Emily Pyles, Haley Byars, Jenna Groves, and Liz Wooding– with each girl thanking their teammates, coaches, and family through a recording over the PA system.
However, the emotions and tears may have been too tough to overcome as the James Monroe Lady Mavericks came into Fairlea with confidence and left with a 12-9 victory.
It was the exact same score of the first meeting between the two teams when the Spartans won.
The Mavericks took an early lead when Chloe Bert doubled home Peighton Griffith and James Monroe held a 1-0 advantage at that point.
East (14-9) answered in the bottom half as Reagan Cline, who singled and had a huge game, scored on an error and the score was locked at a 1-1 tie after one full inning of play.
But the early back-and-forth play continued.
With two outs and two runners on, JM’s Arianna South ripped a 1-2 pitch over Cline’s head in center field and a run scored. The Mavericks added two more runs on the next batter on a Spartan defensive error and James Monroe put up three runs in the frame and led 4-1.
But Cline did not let the swing in momentum last long.
After Pyles and Sydney Norman drew walks to get on base, Cline drove a 3-run homer to center and knotted the game at 4-all. Two batters later, Haylee Heaster doubled home Martin, and the Spartans had retaken a 5-4 lead after two.
But once again, James Monroe (7-12) didn’t let getting behind keep them down.
They would score three more in the third capped by a 2-run single from South, and the Mavericks took a 7-5 lead.
They then extended that advantage to 11-5 in the top half of the fourth with the help of four Spartan miscues in the inning. South strange inning as came up to bat, and again, had an RBI single to cap the scoring.
Down 12-5 in the fifth frame, the Spartans tried to chip away at the deficit and make their comeback. It started with Campbell Bundy and Maddie Baker’s singles and continued with Cline’s 2-run triple that made it 12-7.
However, Cline’s next 2-run triple that occurred in the seventh, would be the final runs on the board for the Spartans and James Monroe, who had accommodated the game taking place in Fairlea so the Spartans could have senior night, went back across the border with an impressive rival victory.
The loss didn’t diminish the big game from Cline. The sophomore was 4-5 with a home run, two triples, two runs, and had seven RBIs. Bundy was 2-2 with a run and was the only other Spartan with more than one hit.
Pyles and Madilyn Wellman split pitching duties. Of the 12 runs the Mavericks scored, only six were earned.
South led the James Monroe offense with four hits and four RBIs.
East travels to Beckley Thursday, May 1 to face Woodrow Wilson.
The seniors:
