Sly as a Fox, Lady Pioneers Top Science Hill in Big 7 Showdown
by TREY WILLIAMSTriCitiesSports.com
April 19, 2018
JONESBOROUGH – David Crockett’s softball team turned a second chance into a first impression.
The Pioneers avenged a 2-1 loss at Science Hill on March 19 with a 5-4 home win against the Hilltoppers on Thursday to take sole possession of first place in the Big Seven Conference standings.
Crockett (7-1, 19-5) has a half-game lead on Daniel Boone (6-1, 21-9) and will try to complete a two-game sweep of the Trailblazers on Tuesday in Gray.
Science Hill (6-3, 21-9) threw away an opportunity to finish a sweep of Crockett. Two throwing errors by Hilltoppers infielders in the fifth inning led to three unearned runs which gave the Pioneers a 4-1 lead.
Crockett’s defense, meanwhile, strong-armed a ‘Toppers rally in the sixth. Right fielder Maddie Roy made a long, exceptional throw to retire Mia Edwardson at the plate for the second out of the frame.
Edwardson was trying to score from second on Makenzie Smith’s single, and would have done so if not for a perfect throw.
Roy’s dazzling assist loomed even larger when Sejal Neas and Shayna Price followed Smith’s hit with two-out singles to score Makenzie Powell and make the score 4-2.
Crockett got an important insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when Mackenzie Baldwin’s one-out double was followed by Sidney Fox’s RBI double.
Edwardson’s two-out, two-run home run completed the game’s scoring in the seventh. Science Hill failed to get the tying run on base after Edwardson’s home run.
The Pioneers were led by Fox, who went 3-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI. She’d gone hitless in a 9-0 win against Volunteer on Wednesday.
“Yesterday I didn’t hit too good,” Fox said. “So today I said I was gonna buckle down and be there for my team. We definitely knew that we were gonna have a fight coming in, and we were ready for it today. Science Hill’s a good team, but we’re right there with them. And we were ready to do the work to be first in the conference.”
Fox also applied a quick tag in the close call at the plate when Roy threw out Edwardson.
“That was an awesome play,” Crockett coach Carla Weems said. “And it could have been a tied ballgame had she not made that great throw. … It took us a little while to get going, but I was proud of them for their effort. They did a good job.”
Kara Weems pitched a complete-game victory. She allowed eight hits and walked one while striking out four.
“I think she was hitting her spots today,” Carla Weems said.
Neas was productive on the mound and at the plate for Science Hill. She went 3-for-3 with two RBIs and opened the game’s scoring by leading off the second with a solo home run. She allowed two earned runs, walked none and struck out four to help minimize the damage of 11 hits in six innings.
“She definitely threw good enough to win, and we know,” said Science Hill coach Bob Dempsey, who has been the interim manager the past 10 games while Jerry Higgins is away with his ill wife. “We gave ‘em a few. Any time you give a team like this – you give ‘em five outs – you know they’re gonna score. We gave ‘em five outs in that inning and they went up 4-1. We’ve gotta clean the defense up a little bit.”
Roy also went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Baldwin was 2-for-3 with a double, two runs and a stolen base.
“Mackenzie’s a freshman,” Fox said, “and she’s really stepped up for our team.”
Lenzie Jenkins was 2-for-4 with a run and two stolen bases for Crockett. She also bounced up quickly after appearing to take the worst of two jarring collisions.
“She is tough,” Carla Weems said. “I’ve got a bunch of tough girls. It took us a little while to get going, but once we started hitting the ball and getting the momentum behind them I think we were okay. We didn’t hit it as good as we have been. Sidney hit it good today, but my (Nos.) 2, 3 and 4 didn’t hit it as good as they have been hitting it.”
Fox was stranded at third base three times, including in each of her first two at-bats. After leaving the bases loaded in the seventh inning of the 2-1 loss last month in Johnson City, the Pioneers left three runners in scoring position through three innings Thursday.
“Any time you leave runners on base (in scoring position) it’s hard,” Carla Weems said. “It’s gonna come back to bite you, usually. The last time we played Science Hill we left three people on base in the top of the seventh. We had the bases loaded and no outs. So I’m just glad we got a few across today.”
Crockett tied the score, 1-1, in the fourth on Roy’s one-out single. It plated courtesy runner Maddie McKee, who stole bases on back-to-back pitches after entering for Weems, who led off the frame with an infield single.
Edwardson went 2-for-3 with a walk, a run and two RBIs. Her home run was an opposite-field blast on what appeared to be a pretty good pitch a few inches outside.
“It was a little outside and she just went with it,” Carla Weems said. “And that’s what good hitters do.”
It was the second loss in as many days for Science Hill, which was in first place on Tuesday. The Hilltoppers lost 2-0 to Daniel Boone on Wednesday.
“We’ve just gotta get to where we believe in ourselves,” Dempsey said. “We’re young and we’re fragile. But hopefully by tournament time we’ll be ready to go. We’ll be grown up and it’ll be a lot better.
“I thought we hit it pretty good. We had eight or nine hits.”
Indeed, Dempsey said Science Hill’s defense – and Roy’s defense – were the difference.
“It was a huge play (by Roy),” Dempsey said. “She made a great play – great play.”
After the Pioneers left so many runners in scoring position early, Fox was as relieved as she was excited to pull out the critical league win.
“I was definitely nervous,” Fox said, “but I knew my team would come through.”
Science Hill | 010 | 001 | 2 | -- | 4 | 8 | 3 |
David Crockett | 000 | 131 | x | -- | 5 | 11 | 0 |
Science Hill – Sejal Neas and Abbey Jones. David Crockett – Kara Weems and Alyssa. W – Kara Weems, L – Sejal Neas. 2B – David Crockett 2 (Mackenzie Baldwin, Sydney Fox). HR – Mia Edwardson, Science Hill (); Sejal Neas, Science Hill (). RBI – Science Hill 4 (Mia Edwardson 2, Sejal Neas 2), David Crockett 3 (Sydney Fox, Maddie Roy, Kara Weems). SB – David Crockett 5 (Maddie McKee 2, Lenzie Jenkins, Sydney Fox). LOB – Science Hill 5, David Crockett 8.