|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lady ‘Toppers Sneak by Dobyns-Bennett
by TREY WILLIAMS TriCitiesSports.com April 18, 2019 JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- Sejal Neas gave herself some breathing room and then waited to exhale. The Science Hill sophomore capped a four-run seventh with a three-run home run and then wrapped her complete game on the mound by stranding runners at second and third in the Hilltoppers’ 4-2 defeat of Dobyns-Bennett on Thursday at Metro-Kiwanis Park. Science Hill (7-1, 25-6) remained in a first-place tie with Daniel Boone in the Big Seven Conference. The Indians fell to 4-6 in the league and 18-13 overall. D-B starter Morgan Riffle struck out eight of the first nine batters she faced and the game was scoreless entering the bottom of the sixth. But a hit-batsman, a throwing error and a bunt single gave Science Hill a 1-0 lead with Neas stepping to the plate and no outs. She failed to get a bunt down on the first two pitches, but made an 0-2 pitch look more like a 2-0 pitch by hitting it well beyond the fence for a 4-0 lead. “When Abigail (Taylor) beat out that base-hit she had I was like, ‘Yes. Okay, Sejal, here we go,’” Neas said. “The pitch was high and outside. I thought I hit it on the end of the bat, like, it was gonna be a pop-up. So I was like, ‘Dang it.’” Perhaps Neas let her guard down after giving herself a four-run cushion. She hit Evee Batisto with a pitch to lead off the seventh and Riffle followed with a line-drive single to right field. Makaila Collier then got D-B on the board with a sacrifice fly and Kassidy Miller's ensuing single brought Peyton Domby to the plate representing the tying run. Sure enough, it appeared Domby had tied it when she hit a ball deep to left field. But it caromed off the top of the fence back into left field leaving runners at second and third and Science Hill leading, 4-2. After intentionally walking Olivia Perkins-Henson to load the bases, Neas got a pop-up and a fly-out to end it with the bases loaded. “Sejal basically dominated the game for six innings,” Science Hill coach Jerry Higgins said. “And then she hits the girl leading off the inning. That’s happened so many times this year. It’s unbelievable how many times that’s happened. That’s the next step to getting better – not doing that. But for six innings, a hit to right field and one over the infield was all they had.” Between the near miss on the game-tying home run and Bennett being awarded first base for hit-by-pitch after initially being called out during Science Hill’s four-run seventh, the Indians left feeling a bit short-changed by fate. “That was our luck today, but you’ve got to make your own luck,” Indians coach Andy Hubbard said. “The girl hit a bomb. Hit the crap out of it. They’re a good team. Their pitcher threw it great. Our pitcher threw it great. And we just waited until the last inning to hit.” Neas allowed five hits, walked one, hit a batter and struck out eight. She said facing Riffle and D-B adds extra incentive. “It makes me want to be a lot better than I usually am in regular games,” Neas said. “I mean, it’d D-B. I really enjoyed pitching this game. I was really relaxed through the whole thing. So it kind of made it a lot easier on me and my team.” Riffle allowed three hits, walked one and hit two batters while striking out 10 in six innings. “She’s tough,” Hubbard said. “When she puts her mind to it she’s tough. She’s signed with Walters State and she does a great job.” One of Science Hill’s runs was unearned and only one of its hits left the infield. “For some reason, Riffle throws like Nolan Ryan against us,” Higgins said. “She’s done that her whole career. She gives up 10 on Tuesday to Boone and she comes out here and just completely shuts us down. “And we had to go to doing some unorthodox things for us, like bunting, fake bunting and running the bases. We were lucky enough to get some people on, started running and then Sejal got the big hit. But she’s got another gear against us.” Science Hill’s Taylor went 2-for-3 with an infield single, a bunt single and two stolen bases. She was the game’s lone multi-hit performer. Miller made a difficult catch at first base on Zoey Cooper’s line-drive in the fourth – a good grab in what was another near miss for the Indians. “Last week with Crockett we were up two and made an error and they tied it up,” Hubbard said. “It went into extra innings and they scored four and beat us. I mean we just can’t get over the hump in one of these games. “And they played really good. Their pitcher threw good.” Science Hill starts five freshmen (Taylor, Emma Cullop, Cooper, Bree Presnell, Jayden Salts) and two sophomores (Neas, Jannon Glaspie). “We’re a young bunch, but we don’t use that as an excuse,” Higgins said. “If you can play, you can play. We’ve won nine or 10 in a row, but we’ve not hit the way I think we should. We’re not getting two hits and three hits. We’re getting one and then nothing. “And next week’s a gauntlet. We’ve gotta play Boone again. We’ve gotta play Crockett again. We’ve gotta play at Tennessee High, which anything can happen there on that short field. And then we’ve gotta play Volunteer again, who beat us (at Volunteer).” Of course, no one feels sorry for Higgins and his Neas-led ‘Toppers. “It’s so amazing – the feeling of hitting and pitching at the same time, because you don’t see a lot of pitchers that hit all the time,” Neas said. “I’m very lucky that I get to have this opportunity as a sophomore.”
W - Sejal Neas, L - Morgan Riffle. 2B - Dobyns-Bennett 1 (Peyton Domby). HR - Sejal Neas, Science Hill (two on in 6th). RBI - Dobyns-Bennett 2 (Makaila Collier, Peyton Domby), Science Hill 3 (Sejal Neas). SAC - Dobyns-Bennett 1 (Makaila Collier). SB - Science Hill 5 (Kasey Bennett 2, Abigail Taylor 2, Shayna Price). LOB - Dobyns-Bennett 4, Science Hill 4. |
|
| Sitemap |