Lady ‘Canes draw walk-off walk, advance to region title game

Monday’s battle was a classic one. The Lady ‘Canes scored an unearned run in the first inning, and a home run tied it in the sixth. Both teams left runners on in the seventh and eighth before East won it in the ninth.

With one out, Kaitlyn Harper laced a single to right field. She moved to second on a wild pitch and went to third as Olivia Harris grounded out.

Science Hill coach Jerry Higgins elected to play the percentages as the Lady Hilltoppers walked two of East’s better hitters, Randi Drinnon and Emma Frost, intentionally. But it didn’t pay off. King worked the count to 3-1 and took a strike on the inside corner. But losing hurler Sejal Neas’ next pitch was low and inside for the walk-off walk.

It was the 37th victory against five losses for East, the second most victories in school history. The Lady ‘Toppers closed the year at 32-11-1. It was also the 128th victory for East’s seniors, which is nine more than any other group at the school.

The game was a pitching duel but completely different from the ones East is accustomed to playing against Jefferson County where it is a battle of two hard-throwing pitchers who dominate the other hitters.

East’s Frost did her share of dominating, registering 17 strikeouts while giving up seven hits and one walk. However, Neas did it the opposite way as she seemed in control as the Lady ‘Canes struggled to make solid contact with pitches that were slower than they had been seeing. She struck out only four.

Harper was the only East player with two hits as the winners totaled eight. Harris, Drinnon, Frost, King, Jessica Harris and KeiAndra Harper added one apiece.

Jayden Salts had three hits for the Lady ‘Toppers while Shayna Price’s home run leading off the sixth supplied the only run.

East coach Robin Vannoy knew her team hadn’t done its best job of hitting the ball but was relieved with the victory.

“Their pitcher did a great job,” she said. “She kept us off-balance all night long and it seemed when we did manage to hit one hard it went right at someone.

“But we had our chances because we had baserunners on. But we just couldn’t get the big, timely hit that we’ve been getting in the past. Sarah did a great job at the plate in the last at bat,” she added. “A lot of kids would have swung at that pitch.”

Vannoy added, “We know now that we’re going to play at least two more games. This might not have been our best game but at this point, it’s if you win that counts and now how you win.”

Higgins said, “It was just two great teams playing each other and there’s not much more you can say about it. There has to be a winner and there has to be a loser.

“I go by the numbers and the numbers say to walk both of those batters,” he added. “Then you have to throw strikes and get an out some way. But the one thing you can’t do is what happened. But, I’ll do that every time. I’d to it 100 times out of 100.”

The coach went on to say, “We had our opportunities to score, both teams did. But we didn’t come through. It was just a great game.

“Both pitchers threw the ball really well. We knew Morristown’s pitcher was going to throw well and we had confidence that ours would too. That’s what it was a pitcher’s duel.”

East scored in the bottom of the first when Olivia Harris was hit by a pitch and went to second on a wild pitch. Drinnon had an infield hit and Frost walked to load the bases. King then hit a grounder to third that was booted and Harris scored.

The Lady ‘Canes didn’t get a ball out of the infield until the fourth as Neas set down 12 in a row before the Harper twins, KeiAndra and Kaitlyn, both had bunt singles. Harris bunted the runners up but Neas got a strikeout to escape.

East got a line single to left from Frost leading off the fifth and King had a bunt single to follow, but the Lady ‘Canes couldn’t cash in.

Meanwhile, Frost stayed in control. Price caught an outside pitch to open the sixth and hit it off the scoreboard in right field.

East left two on in the sixth and Science Hill did the same in the seventh. The Lady ‘Canes then stranded two more in the eighth after a two-out error and a hit by Jessica Harris.

Frost kept mowing the Lady ‘Toppers down with two strikeouts in the eighth and three more in the ninth to set the stage for the winning rally.