Ta’lor
Bynum’s bloop single in the bottom of the eighth inning scored
pinch-runner Jordan Browning in the Patriots’ 2-1 victory. The win not
only kept Loganville (14-8, 7-1) from securing the top seed, but pulled
Heritage (20-3, 7-1) and Apalachee (7-1) even at the top of the
standings. Each team has one regular season region game remaining,
including Heritage’s September 23 contest at Winder-Barrow.
In
the top of the eighth, Loganville had runners at second and third with
no outs. Carlee Robinson started the inning at second base under
international tie-breaker rules and pinch-hitter Madelyn Green reached
when she popped up a bunt and first baseman Destiny Herrera and pitcher
Kamryn Toney both went for the pop up and the ball fell out Herrera’s
glove for an error. Korbin Caldwell ripped a hard ground ball to third
that Bynum made a great stop on and threw to Herrera for the first out.
Toney walked Kendall Herring to load the bases, but struck out Emily
Boothe and Haley Swords to end the threat.
Browning
pinch-ran for Morgan Whiten and started the bottom half at second base
and Toney walked, which was sandwiched around an infield pop out and a
strikeout. Bynum worked the count to 2-2 before lofting a short fly ball
into shallow left-center field and Browning scored easily with the
game-winner.
“That
error, we all got down (but) we fought through it. We stayed up,” said
Bynum. “First we were down…ended up being our game.”
“Nothing came easy,” said Heritage coach Jason McBay. “But we were able to survive.”
Heritage
led 1-0 and Toney was three outs from completing a gem when Loganville
rallied to tie things up in the top of the seventh on just three
pitches. Megan Wooldridge roped a double on an 0-1 pitch to open the
inning, and Andrea Rosario took the first pitch she saw and poked a
run-scoring single to help the Walton County school pull even. Emma
McDonald’s line drive appeared to be headed towards the rightfield
corner, which would’ve set up Loganville nicely for the potential
go-ahead run and possibly more than that, but Herrera stabbed the line
drive and doubled off Rosario.
In
the bottom of the seventh, Green, who went the distance and was saddled
with the tough-luck loss, got the first two outs with ease. Lakaitlen
Barney struck out for what should’ve been the final out, though the
pitch got past the catcher Herring and Barney reached. Green hadn’t
walked anyone since issuing a free pass to Whiten in the first inning,
but walked Jamiya Barker and Addy Allegretti to load the bases. Whiten’s
fly ball initially looked like it would fall in for the game-winning
hit, but it stayed up long enough for Wooldridge to make the catch in
center field.
“We left a small village on the bases,” said McBay, whose team left eight runners on base and five in scoring position.
Green
allowed the game’s first run in the fourth when with two outs Bynum hit
a long fly ball that bounced off the top of the centerfield wall and
fell back into play, initially chasing home a pair of runs. While the
lead runner, Whiten, scored to make it 1-0, pinch-runner Glory Seay’s
second run was disallowed after the home-plate umpire ruled Seay hadn’t
touched the plate.
Toney
was excellent throughout the evening. The junior right-hander, who has
verbally committed to play at Central Florida, didn’t surrender a
base-runner until Rosario’s infield single with two outs in the fourth.
Rosario got all the way to third after a stolen base and wild pitch
before Toney got a fly out to get out of trouble. That was the start of
seven consecutive batters retired by the Heritage ace before Rosario’s
seventh-inning double.
“That’s a good hitting club that (Toney) shut down,” said McBay. “(Toney is) such a smart player, she kept adjusting.”
No comments:
Post a Comment