PRINCETON- In a game that started on Wednesday evening, the (3) Greenbrier East Lady Spartans were leading the (2) Pikeview Lady Panthers 2-0 in the third inning before lightning and torrential downpours visited the field.
So, East had to go back on Thursday evening, May 14 and resume play from exactly where the game had been suspended. East was in the lead thanks to Campbell Bundy’s RBI double, Chloey Wykle was pitching, and Pikeview had one out and was batting.
But it so hard to stay in rhythm when something like that happens.
So, when play resumed on Thursday, Wykle walked Shleby Maddox to start things off. She then got a strikeout, but the following hitter, Emma Compton, blasted a 2-run homer to knot the game at 2-2.
But Wykle would settle down over the next couple innings and keep the Lady Panthers attacking offense at bay and the Lady Spartan offense was the next to strike.
In the top half of the sixth frame, Haylee Heaster led off with a single and then two batters later, Sydney Norman followed suit. Bailee Cleghon, who came in to pinch run, scored on a passed ball, and then Paige Totten doubled to center that brought Norman across the plate. And just like that, after the top of the sixth, East had gone back in front, 4-2.
The Panthers, however, answered with three huge runs in the bottom half as the frame was capped by Zoey Tupper’s 2-run double for a 5-4 Pikeview advantage.
East’s Lacy Patriacca singled to begin the top of the seventh and she would later score on Compton’s error at first base on the next batter. Maddox, who is Pikeview’s star pitcher, got the next two outs to get to the bottom of the seventh tied at 5-all.
After a couple walks put two baserunners on, an intentional walk loaded the bases for the Panthers with just one out. Then, the Spartans’ Norman fielded a grounder and got a force out at home for two outs, and it looked as if East may just squeak out of the damage.
But it didn’t happen.
Emma Weiss took a 1-1 pitch in the next at-bat and singled to left field for a game-winning walk-off hit and it put Greenbrier East now into a win or go home scenario from this point forward.
Wykle had a solid outing. She went 6.2 innings, allowed 8 hits, 4 earned runs, and struck out 9. Her five walks, with three in the seventh, are what hurt the most.
Greenbrier East returns home on Friday evening for a first-round rematch with Nicholas County. It won’t be easy by any means, but the Spartans did win that battle on Tuesday, 8-6.
