by Beau Wicker
Pharos-Tribune sports writer
May 10, 2008 12:42 am
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WINAMAC — Winamac senior pitcher Rachel Younger took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against Class A No. 3 Frontier staked to a 3-0 lead.
But after a leadoff walk opened the seventh, Frontier cleanup hitter Kelsey Mullen hit a one-out Younger offering over the center-field fence to get the Falcons off the snide. The homer seemed to spark the Lady Falcons as they added another run in the seventh to tie it and then scored two runs in the eighth en route to a 5-3 extra-inning win to spoil the Lady Warriors’ senior night.
“It just got away from us I guess,” Younger said. “I was feeling like my speed was good and everyone was doing an awesome job. Our defense was solid. My outfield, they did an awesome job.”
Younger credited the Falcons.
“They hit the ball when they needed to hit it. They had good hits. Not a lot you can do about that I guess.”
The win put two-time defending Midwest Conference champion Frontier (17-3, 5-0) in the driver’s seat for the conference title. The Falcons still have Caston and West Central on their conference slate. Winamac, who shared the MWC title with Frontier and Tri-County a year ago, fell to 17-6 and 5-1. The Lady Warriors host Tri-County on Monday.
“We did want conference really bad and we’ve been practicing so hard...” Younger said.
With two outs in the seventh inning, Frontier stayed alive with an infield single on a popup that fell between Younger and shortstop Erika Redweik. Then on a 3-2 count, Kristen Dolick hit an RBI triple to right-center to tie the game. Younger got out of the inning by inducing a groundout.
In the top of the eighth inning, another leadoff walk came back to bite Younger and the Warriors. After a bunt single and a wild pitch put runners on second and third with no outs, a ground ball was hit to second baseman Whitlee Scott. Scott checked the runner at third and threw to first for the out, but the runner broke for home and scored on a bang-bang play at the plate.
“She might have been able to run at the runner a little bit more and make sure she froze that runner at third base,” Winamac coach Jennifer Belcher said of the senior second baseman, “but this game is so fast. You have to make split-second decisions and I don’t even know if we would have gotten her then.”
Another ground ball to second brought home the Falcons’ second run of the eighth.
As Younger was pitching a no-hitter, Frontier’s starter, Mullen, was dominating as well. Scott’s leadoff single to open the game was Winamac’s only hit of the game until she recorded a bunt single with two outs in the seventh inning. Cortney Brandt added a single in the eighth.
Winamac got on the board in the second when Kayla Parish was hit by a pitch and came around to score on a wild pitch. In the fifth, Scott had a sacrifice fly RBI and Jocelynn Clindaniel scored on a Frontier throwing error. The inning ended when courtesy runner Kenna Boswell tried to score from second on a wild pitch and was out on a bang-bang play at the plate.
Winamac center fielder Hope Bradbury saved a run in the first inning with a diving catch of a Mullen liner.
Frontier coach Sharon Wright was happy with her team’s comeback victory. She’s hoping her squad has improved its mental toughness from a year ago after coming one out away from the state finals before defensive miscues led to its loss against eventual state champion Indianapolis Lutheran.
“We’ve tried to. It’s hard to do without playing games. Really the time to work on that is in games,” she said. “You don’t work on that in practice. We’ve talked about it. It’s definitely something we’ve discussed.”
Belcher was proud of her squad’s effort on senior night. The Lady Warriors have eight seniors on their roster.
“It’s an emotional night for them. They definitely want to come in and get a win on senior night,” Belcher said. “I just can’t ask for any more from them than what I saw tonight. For them to come out and play as hard as they can play and play to the level that they’re capable of... We played tough, we played hard, we played aggressive and Frontier just strung some hits together when they needed them.”
“We’ve got some more games to play and we’ll be back at it,” the Winamac coach added.
The Warriors host Delphi for a doubleheader today.
Beau Wicker can be contacted at (574) 732-5113 or via e-mail at beau.wicker@pharostribune.com
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