By Michael Lindsay
The Upperman Lady Bees kept their undefeated start to District 7-3A play alive Monday night as they defeated Stone Memorial in extra innings, 5-4.
“Hats off to this group,” said Upperman coach Dustin Williams. “They’ve been in a lot of tight games and we’ve faced some really good competition. We’re a senior-heavy group that’s done all that we ask them to do.”
Reece Kimmel led the Lady Bees at the plate as she went 2-4 with a double and four RBIs. Kimmel also picked up the victory in the circle as she struck out 14 batters while giving up 5 hits and 4 runs in 7 innings.
“Coach Mike Hurst does such a good job charting hitters,” said Williams. “We’ve played this group several times; it’s almost the exact same team as last year. Reece was executing pitches and our defense played well behind her.”
Stone Memorial’s Ashley Whittenburg and Cadence Cox collected 2 hits each for the Lady Panthers.
Upperman opened the contest with two runs in the bottom of the first inning as a Kimmel single scored Addison McElhaney followed by a Kirra Hancock ground-out to score Felicity Little.
Stone Memorial answered in the top of the third inning as a Whittenburg line-drive to center scored Breanna Looper followed by a Cox single to score Whittenburg, tying the game at 2-2.
A Kimmell double in the bottom of the fourth scored two runs to give the Lady Bees a 4-2 advantage. Upperman held that lead until the top of the seventh inning as Stone Memorial pulled within one run via a Whittenburg fly ball to score Looper.
Down to her final strike with two outs, Cox delivered a single to left field to score Whittenburg and tie the game at 4. Cox sat the Lady Bees down in order in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings.
“We talked about it in the top of the seventh,” said Williams. “I told them it’s not over. I knew the odds were in our favor if we could just grind it out and keep going.”
Upperman recorded three consecutive outs in the top of the eighth before loading the bases in the bottom-half of the frame. Kimmel walked off the game by drawing a bases-loaded walk to score Liza Wilken and give her team the 5-4 victory.
“Reece is a robot at the plate,” said Williams. “She doesn’t swing at balls. She wasn’t going to jeopardize her approach to hit a bad pitch and maybe hit into a double play.”
Up next for the Lady Bees is a battle atop District 7-3A as they welcome DeKalb County to Baxter on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
