The Butler Bulldogs upset the Lady Patriots at home this past week.  In a well played and hard fought game.  The visitors from Matthews prevailed with an Independence runner stranded on third base in their final at bat in the seventh inning.

The Bulldogs took a quick 1-0 lead in the top half of the first inning.  However, Indy bounced back with 2 runs of their own in the bottom of the first to take a 2-1 lead.  The  Butler defense was lacking in the first, they committed three errors while the Patriots combined two hits to jump out in front.

In the third, Butler scored 3 more runs on a couple of hits, two Indy errors, and a base on balls for a 4-2 lead.  The first place Patriots were not hitting the ball with the authority they had in their first match-up with their opponent when they pounded Butler 7-2.  Senior starting Bulldog pitcher McKenzie Silvia, had the fast ball and change-up working well keeping the Independence hitters off balance.

However, in the fourth, Emily Shaver was hit by a pitch, she took first base, moved to second base, and ended up on third base on a ground ball to the second baseman for the out.  Senior Anna Easter would then hit a sacrifice fly for the RBI to make the game 4-3.

In the fifth, with Butler threatening with runners on first and second and one out, a hard grounder was hit to Maya Douglas who made an unassisted double play by tagging the runner and tossing to first.

In the sixth, Emily Shaver with runners on first and third, fielded a ground ball and executed a nifty 6-4-3 double play to prevent Butler from padding the score.

In the bottom of the seventh, Mallory Shaver singled, moved to second on a wild pitch, Maya Douglas hit a slow roller to third and was thrown out at first moving Shaver to third base with only one out.  The next batter Anna Easter popped out to second base for the second out.  Then Emily Shaver hit a fairly deep fly ball to center field for the final out stranding her sister on third to end the ball game.

McKenzie Grant went 2-3, and Jaylin Adkins 2-3 for the Lady Patriots.  Kayla Douglas pitched a solid six innings, allowing 7 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 walks, and had 7 strikeouts on 103 pitches.  Jaylin Atkins pitched the seventh inning in relief tossing only 12 pitches while allowing a hit.

Patriots 9 – Porter Ridge 3 

Meanwhile on Thursday night, the Patriots in an away conference game bounced back nicely against Porter Ridge after falling behind early.

After three innings of play, the Pirates took a fast 3-0 lead to surprise the visitors against Patriots senior ace Kayla Douglas.  However, Independence scored 3 runs in the fourth, 2 runs in the fifth, and 4 more runs in the sixth inning to ice the game.  Douglas pitched four scoreless innings from the fourth through the seventh to frustrate the Pirates offense.

The leading batters offensively for the Patriots include Cameron Howie who went 3-3 with 2 RBI’s, Maya Douglas 2-4 with 3 RBI’s including a double, Mallory Shaver 2-4 with 2 RBI’s, and Jaylin Adkins went 2-2 in the game.

Kayla Douglas pitched a complete game allowing 8 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 walks, and accumulated 5 strikeouts during the course of the contest.

With the spring break upon us, the Patriots will be back in action again on Tuesday April 23rd in an away conference game when they visit Rocky River.  At the break, Independence is 12-4 overall, and 10-1 in the Southwestern 4A Conference.