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The Paper photo by Lori Poteet
North Montgomery junior Kacie Nice records an out at first base. |
| Softball
Tuesday
IHSAA Crawfordsville Sectional
Semifinals
At Crawfordsville HS
Game 2
North Montgomery 3, Danville 2
Danville 000 020 0 - 2 10 2
North Montgomery 000 003 X - 3 4 1
WP: Trisha Dillon NM. LP: Sarah Elliott D
Danville runs scored: Liz Scott, Brittany Walls
North Montgomery runs scored: Bailey Carpenter, Erica Lingen, Ali Thompson
Danville RBI: Katie Hall, Scott
North Montgomery RBI: Alli Thompson 2
Danville hits: Scott 4, Hall 3, Elliot 2, Walls
North Montgomery hits: Thompson 2, Erica Lingen, Katie McIntyre
Stolen bases: Danville 0, North Montgomery 1 (McIntyre)
LOB: Danville 9, North Montgomery 4
Record: North Montgomery 4-18
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Reprinted courtesy of:
The Paper of Montgomery County
www.thepaper35-7.com
By Bob Cox
bcox@thepaper24-7.com
A
wild finish to Tuesday night's Indiana High School Athletic Association
Crawfordsville Sectional softball semifinal game propelled North
Montgomery into tonight's championship game against county- and
conference rival Southmont.
The Chargers defeated conference
rival Danville 3-2 but they did so behind the unlikely scenario of
committing an error to win the game.
To make things even more
bizarre, it was a Chargers' fan that might have made the biggest call
of the night for North Montgomery.
After scoring three runs in
the bottom of the sixth to take a 3-2 lead, North Montgomery (4-18)
looked like it might give the lead back in the top of the seventh.
Danville's first two batters both singled to start the inning and the Warriors started to make a comeback.
After
Danville's Kaitlyn England popped out for the first out in the inning,
Heather Reeves hit a hard ground ball to North Montogmery third baseman
Jessica Evans.
Evans promptly stepped on third for the force-out but overthrew first base as she attempted a game-winning double play.
Danville's Liz Scott ran home on the overthrow and it looked as if the Warriors had tied the game.
However,
one North Montgomery fan noticed the Danville runner, who had
apparently scored, never touched third base as she ran home.
The
fan yelled at North Montgomery pitcher Trisha Dillon to throw the ball
to third base because the Danville runner had failed to touch the bag.
Dillon
threw the ball to Evans, who stepped on the base, and the umpire called
the Danville runner out, sending the North Montgomery dugout into a
victory celebration mode.
North Montgomery coach Julie Hodges admitted she did not see the big game deciding play.
"I
didn't see the runner not touch the bag," an elated Hodges said. "I was
concentrating on the play at first. I need to thank our fan who saw it
all happen."
North Montgomery only had four hits in the game.
But three of them came in the sixth inning when the team scored all three of their runs.
A big two-RBI double by senior catcher Ali Thompson tied the game.
Later in the inning Thompson scored the eventual game-winning run on a hit by designated player Katie McIntyre.
"After
Danville got their two runs we had a lot of pressure on us," Thompson
said. "It was exciting to see us respond to the pressure and get the
runs to win the game."
The game was close throughout mainly due to a good pitching duel between Dillon and Danville sophomore Sarah Elliot.
No team scored until Danville went up 2-0 in the fifth inning.
After the game Hodges praised her pitcher.
"Trish
pitched her best game of the year," she said. "She was able to get
ahead of the hitters and she also had a season high seven strikeouts.
She was fantastic."
Southmont defeated North Montgomery in both meetings this seaso.
And the Mounties knocked off county- and conference rival Crawfordsville 3-1 to advance to the final.
However, Hodges is not ready to concede anything to the county rivals.
"South has a great team with great pitching," she said. "But we know anything can happen in a sectional championship game."
North Montgomery's lone softball sectional championship came in 1993.
Thompson said the Chargers need to be ready to play a tough opponent if championship number two is to happen.
"We have to come prepared to play a good team," Thompson said. "We have to stay focused and play one inning at a time." |
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