The Williamsburg Lady Jackets and Knox Central Lady Panthers locked up in a high scoring affair at Briar Creek Park Monday and when the dusted had settled 37 runs, 43 hits and 15 errors were the final totals. Lucky for the Lady Jackets, 19 of those runs belonged to the home team as Williamsburg scored a knock-out punch in the bottom of the seventh to win, 19-18.
The Lady Jackets (3-4) trailed 18-14 entering the home half of the seventh and needed five runs to come from behind for the second time in the game. The Lady Jackets trailed 10-2 entering the bottom of the second and 12-5 entering the bottom of the third.
But, by the end of the fourth, the Lady Jackets had rallied to tie the game at 13-13. However, the Lady Panthers scored once in the top of the fifth and three in the top of the sixth and led 17-14 entering the final frame. Knox Central scored once in the seventh to take a safe, four-run lead.
Junior Sarah Smith led off with a single up the middle followed by a walk to Ashley Hamblin. The two runners moved up a base on a passed ball before Corissa Black hit a pitch past the out-reached glove of the Knox Central second baseman. The hit scored Smith and the tying run was at the plate in the form of freshman Ashley Freeman.
Freeman belted a grounder past the Central third baseman as Hamblin came across the plate for a 18-16 score. After a strikeout by Savannah Ruth, Cierra Stanfill loaded the bases with a walk.
Cara Rains then hit a hard shot to the shortstop that bounced off her leg and into the outfield, allowing Black and Freeman to score and tie the game at 18-all. That left Stanfill at second and Rains at first base.
Knox Central went to Carrie Williamson to finish the game on the mound, but she pitched four straight balls to Rachael Croley, who loaded the bases.
With one out, Williamsburg catcher Whitney McAnally came to the plate. She hit a grounder to short that was bobbled as Stanfill scored the winning run.
“It was good to get a home win,” said Williamsburg coach Carla Kersey. “It was a great come back and win for our girls. We needed that win.”
“We have just been in a slump and we needed a good win. I think that we came
back from like 8 or 9 runs behind. We showed a lot of determination and
heart. I am proud of our girls and I hope that this will help us gain some
confidence for the rest of the season, ” said Kersey.
“We still have a lot to work on. We need to work on minumizing our fielding errors. Thats where it is at – we are hitting – now we just need to back up our pitcher and field.”
Williamsburg will be on the road for two games this week. They will be at Harlan Thursday and at East Jessamine, Saturday for a 2 p.m. contest with the Jaguars.
Knox Central 462 113 1- 18 22 5
Williamsburg 234 401 5- 19 21 10
Tye and Gray. Black and McAnally. WP-Black, LP-Tye. 2B-Thomas (KC), Rains (W).
