SAND ROCK – Spring Garden softball coach Ann Welsh said her team works on bunting the softball. She said they’re not much of a small-ball team, but small ball provided the spark their bats needed at area rival Sand Rock on Monday.
Three consecutive hits that didn’t leave the infield loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the fifth inning. Then nine-hole hitter Maggie Jarrett slapped a single to center to tie the game at a run apiece. Kayley Kirk connected on a three-run double to right to open the gate in seventh-ranked Spring Garden’s 9-6 win.
“We’ve got a few I know who can bunt,” Spring Garden coach Ann Welsh said. “I felt like in that situation we needed to move a runner because we were in a position where we had to score. The game was moving on. It just kind of worked in our favor. We had them kind of guessing. We put a few hits up, we fed off each other and scored seven runs right there.”
“It was tough,” Sand Rock coach Josh Bates said of the top of the fifth. “We made a couple of mistakes that opened the door for them and got them some momentum.”
But the eighth-ranked Lady Wildcats (8-8-1) didn’t back down. After Spring Garden’s scoring outburst, they came back in to score a pair of runs to get back within striking distance at 7-3. Then, a three-run homer to center by third baseman Maggie Tinsley in the sixth made things even more interesting, as Sand Rock had crept within a run at 7-6.
“I didn’t know how we’d respond (after going down 7-1),” Bates said. “Our kids came in the bottom of the fifth and I told them we’ve got to go to work now. We battled back and got two. We did a good job of executing there, moving the runners and getting them in scoring position, then in the sixth, Doodle (Tinsley) hits a 3-run shot there that gets us in the ball game within one.”
Sand Rock had put the pressure back on Spring Garden (7-3), and the Lady Panthers responded.
Kirk sent a shot to center that was caught by a diving Maggie Hester, then Steward grounded out to Lady Wildcat pitcher Jadyn Foster for the second out, bringing Kylie-Grace Wood to the plate.
Wood singled to left, then Neely Welsh followed with a double to center. Ace Austin brought home a run with an infield single, then Madison Brown reached on an error at short to score another run to extend Spring Garden’s advantage back out to three runs at 9-6.
Steward then responded to her rocky sixth in the circle to retire the Sand Rock side in order to secure the Lady Panther win.
“We never can score enough runs,” Coach Welsh said. “It’s something I’ve told our teams for years. I’m one of those people who wants to score every inning. They’re a good ball team. We watched them this weekend (in the Cherokee Invitational). They’re going to put the ball in play and make us play defense. That’s what they did. They came back. Hat’s off to them for making us play defense, but I was proud with them coming up in that last inning and scoring a couple of cushion runs right there. Kylie-Grace stepped up and got a hit. That’s what you want from a senior. She got things going, and then I thought Abbey did a good job of hitting her spots and kept fighting, especially after the home run that brought them back up to us. She shook it and finished the inning.”
“They’re going to fight and scrap. It’s what you expect when you’re playing Spring Garden,” Bates said.
Austin led Spring Garden with three hits and three RBIs. Wood added a pair of hits and drove in a run. Kirk contributed a double with three RBIs. Steward struck out 12 and walked four in the circle to earn the win.
Tinsley tallied two hits and four RBIs for Sand Rock. Rylin St. Clair tripled and Ella Grace Hood doubled. Samantha Parker delivered a run-scoring single to right in the second for Sand Rock’s first run. Foster singled and was hit by a pitch. She also suffered the loss with no walks and five strikeouts.
Both teams could potentially see each other again as soon as this weekend in the Cherokee County Tournament in Centre.
