The Lady Patriots fall in a tough come from behind loss against Porter Ridge in the second round of the Southwestern 4A Conference Tournament on the road.
Independence jumped off to a 1-0 lead in the first inning and added 2 more runs in the third inning for an encouraging 3-0 advantage. However, in the fourth inning the Pirates exploded for 4 runs off starter Kayla Douglas who pitched well through the first three frames. The Pirates who are a very solid hitting team found the range in their second time at bat making the necessary adjustments as Douglas used a combination of a good fastball and off speed pitches to keep her opponents off balance. However, the Pirates started to bang out timely hits in the fourth to take a 4-3 lead.
In the fifth, the pesky Patriots pounded out five runs on a couple of walks, a few errors and timely base hits off senior starter Sloan Ducey for the Lady Pirates. Anna Easter, Maya Douglas, Mallory Shaver, Mackenzie Grant, Kingsley Reardon and Abrianna Berry all made solid contributions through the first five innings of the ballgame. The Patriots again jumped out to a seemingly comfortable 8-4 edge.
However, the Pirates continued to chip away at the Patriot lead with 2 runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth with the score now 8-6 with only one more inning remaining in the contest.
In the seventh and final inning the Patriots could not get an all important insurance run or two for some additional cushion. As it turned out, they really could have used the extra run or two as the Pirates bounced back from the jaws of defeat to victory scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the inning to win the game in walk off fashion 9-8 ending the Patriots hopes of repeating last seasons conference title.
Anna Ester went 2-4, Maya Douglas 2-4, 2 RBI’s, Mallory Shaver 2-3, 1 RBI, Jaylin Adkins had an important RBI sacrifice fly for the Lady Patriots. Sloan Ducey picked up the win for the Pirates, Kayla Douglas took the loss, and the big blow in the game was a home run for Hailey Jernigan who had 3 RBI’s for the Pirates, while Calyn Mincey went 2-3, with 3 RBI’s for the victors.
