The high school softball season ended for the Boyd Buchanan Lady Buccaneers at home on Monday following a 6-3 loss to the Friendship Christian Lady Commanders, but maybe it was a blessing as the effort was just not there to create a winning atmosphere.
The season ends with 23 wins and 16 losses, the last game coming where the Lady Bucs only allowed one earned run. And while Boyd made it a bit interesting by scoring twice in the last inning, that early lead was simply too much to overcome.
Boyd Buchanan coach Tom Watson has had more than his share of coaching success in high school as he was a major part of state championships at both East Ridge and Baylor. He was just disappointed that his girls didn’t play the way they needed to play in this last game to advance to the next round.
“I wish they didn’t count unearned runs because we would have won 3-1 if that was the case,” Watson said following the game where the skies were overcast, but it never rained.
“I think they only hit two balls out of the infield, but we all know that defense wins at this time of year. We had the one bad inning where they scored five runs, but we didn’t have a single clean inning where we got three up and three down. But it’s been a long time since we had everyone at practice,” he concluded, refusing to say if that had anything to do with Monday’s loss.
Friendship Christian coach Mike Kittrell was just happy that his kids finally put some runs on the board and were able to take care of business without much fanfare.
“I felt like we kind of started slow, but were able to stay the course,” he said, referring to the fact that his team didn’t score in the first three innings.
“I feel like we did a good job bunting as that put pressure on their defense, but we had zero errors and finally got a few hits. Now we can get ready for our next one,” he said, knowing that his team will face USJ later this week if weather permits.
Izzy Wilson, a hard-working junior, was the winning pitcher, improving to 15-4 on the season as she went the distance and allowed three runs on eight hits. He also had two strikeouts and no walks.
She retired the first eight Lady Bucs she faced before Mercedes Smith got the first hit with two outs in the third, but Boyd had a tough time getting runners across the plate as they had hits in the third, fifth and sixth innings before finally scoring.
Friendship, which had left four baserunners stranded in the first three innings, finally got its offense to click in the fourth.
Catcher Khloe Smith, who led her team with three hits, led off the fourth with a single before Bella Nokes walked. Back-to-back bad throws to first on Friendship bunts allowed two runs to score.
Gabby Lowe had a sacrifice fly to left that drove in Riese Huckaby with the third run while Wilson’s two-run single drove in the final two.
Bella Ellis had a one-out triple in the sixth and scored on a sacrifice fly by Wilson to make it 6-0 before the Lady Bucs scored for the first time in the bottom of that inning.
Smith, who had three of Boyd’s eight hits, reached on an infield single in the sixth and scored when Cai Cai Butler doubled, but the speedy centerfielder was thrown out at third trying to stretch the hit into a triple.
Then in Boyd’s final time at bat, Gracie Petty, Alli Johnson and Sydney Baker all singled to load the bases. Peyton Schweiter grounded into a fielder’s choice for the second out before Smith singled to left to drive in her team’s final two runs before Butler grounded to second on the next pitch for the final out of the game.
Smith had three hits for Friendship while Wilson and Huckaby both had two. Smith had three hits and two RBIs to lead the Lady Bucs while Petty got two hits in her final game.
While Wilson was the winning pitcher, Brooke Watson was the loser after allowing six runs – only one was earned – in five and a third innings on eight hits. She also had two walks and three strikeouts before being replaced by Kinley Ervin in the sixth.
The Lady Commanders are now 24-10 following Monday’s win.
FRIENDSHIP CHRISTIAN 000 501 0 – 6 9 0
BOYD BUCHANAN 000 001 2 – 3 8 2
Wilson and Smith; Watson, Ervin (6) and Johnson.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)