Published: May 07, 2008 06:35 pm            

Trojanettes rally to defeat Lady Scotties

GLASGOW — Barren County senior Rayli Howard has been a stalwart at first base all season long, but hasn’t always been in the batting order.

When Howard got the opportunity on Tuesday, she came through in the clutch.

Howard’s 2-out, 2-RBI single in the top of the sixth inning capped a three run rally to propel the Trojanettes to a 6-5 win over cross town rival Glasgow in a 15th District affair at American Legion Park.

“It was huge,” Barren coach Angie Vaughn said of Howard’s base hit. “She’s our number nine hitter and she doesn’t hit a lot. We have kind of been shuffling her in.

“She’s been doing a good job when she has hit, so we decided to go with her tonight and it paid off for us. I’m proud of her as a senior to step up like that and get that strong hit there at the end.”

Glasgow led 5-3 as Barren came to the plate in the sixth inning. Courtney Thomas led off the inning with a double and moved to third on Katie Crews’ single. Jessica Jones reached on an error as Courtney Thomas scored to cut the lead to 5-4. Courtesy runner Brook Rucker, in for Crews, was out at the plate on a fielder’s choice, and after Chloe Caudell walked, Molly Bellamy, in as a courtesy runner for Jones, was out at the plate on Chelsea Berry’s fielder’s choice.

The left it up to Howard, who laced a line drive single to plate Amber Chapman and Caudell to put the Trojanettes on top, 6-5.

Barren’s Hailey Vernon, who came in relief of starting pitcher Alissa Hampton in the fourth inning, set down Glasgow in order over the final two innings. She struck out three of the last six batters she faced and preserved the Trojanettes’ win.

“The main thing we can take from this is that we battled back,” Vaughn said. “There in the fifth inning we had a terrible defensive inning and regrouped and came in and had a strong offensive inning and scored some big runs there to take the lead again. I think that was big. It showed a lot of character from our kids.”

The Trojanettes improved to 16-10 overall and ended district play with a 4-2 record. The Lady Scotties fell to 11-14 and 2-4.

Despite the loss, Glasgow coach Steven Murphy hopes that the one run defeat, in which Glasgow led after five innings, will give his club confidence in the upcoming district tournament. Barren, the number two seed, and Glasgow, the number three seed, will square off in the first round.

“It’s obvious that we can compete with them,” Murphy said. “They’re a good ball club, but we’ll have to play well. We’ve shown at times throughout the whole year, at times we can compete with most people. That ought to give us confidence that we can compete with them, but now we’ve got to get over that hump, because they are a good ball club. You can’t make mistakes against a good team like that, because they’ll get you.”

Vernon struck out five of the 10 batters she faced to pick up the win in relief. She gave up one unearned run in two and two-thirds innings and didn’t allow a hit. Hampton tossed the first four and one-third innings for the Trojanettes and gave up four runs (one earned) on four hits. She fanned four and walked three.

Blair Dennison went the distance and took the loss for the Lady Scotties. She gave up six runs (three earned) on five hits, struck out four, walked three and hit one batter.

Glasgow struck first with a run in the first inning to take the lead. Shelby Ray led off the inning with a walk and moved to third on Paige Lee’s two-out single. Ray slid into third as the relay throw bounced past third baseman Lindsey Trowbridge, and Ray scored on the throw to the base to give the Lady Scotties a 1-0 advantage.

The Trojanettes bounced back with three in the third to take the lead. With two outs, Jessica Smith walked and Trowbridge was hit by a pitch. Thomas doubled in both runners for a 2-1 lead. Thomas moved to third on a throwing error and scored as Megan Thomas reached on an error to extend the lead to 3-1.

Glasgow took advantage of Barren’s mistakes in the fifth inning to reclaim the lead. Ray reached on an error to lead off the inning and moved to second when Micha Elmore walked. With one out, Paige Lee was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Barren turned to Vernon in the pitcher’s circle in that situation. The freshman hurler coaxed Kelsey Bowles into a grounder, but misfired on the throw to the plate as Ray scored to cut the lead to 3-2. Barren made its second straight error on a fielder’s choice as Elmore scored to knot the game at 3-all.

Lee and Kelsey Bowles each scored on a wild pitch to give the Lady Scotties a 5-3 advantage. Vernon then struck out Christian Williams and Jordan Hatchett to end the threat.

“It was a tough situation,” Vaughn said of putting Vernon in with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth. “I knew she would be a little nervous, but that’s how you get better. It was a good learning experience for her.

“I think after that one inning, she settled in and relaxed a bit and finished really strong. There at the end of the game, she struck out the last two. We’re looking for big things from her in the future and I think this will just make her a better player.”

Courtney Thomas went 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and two RBIs to lead the Trojanettes at the plate. Howard was 1-for-3 with two RBIS, while Crews added a 1-for-2 day at the plate.

Lee was 2-for-3, was hit by a pitch and scored a run to lead the Lady Scotties offensively. Ray went 1-for-3, scored to runs and walked, and Hatchett also had a single.

“We competed pretty well,” Murphy said. “In the third inning, we get a leadoff strikeout and a ground ball, so we’ve got two outs, and then all of a sudden we kind of fall apart. We give up a walk, we hit a batter and we give up a double and another error. But we competed. We battled back and we had the big inning there in the fifth inning and got four.

“We just keep talking about learning those situations, how to handle them. We’re just a play away from getting out of those situations. If we throw a strike, make a play, we’ll get out of those things. And then at the plate we’ve got to somehow find a way to relish that moment and step up and deliver in that situation. We’re still not able to do that consistently.”

Barren is back in action today with a 5 p.m. home game against Metcalfe County. Glasgow returns to play Thursday with a 6 p.m. home contest against Larue County.



At Glasgow

Barren 003 003 0 — 6 5 3

Glasgow 100 040 0 — 5 4 4

W—Vernon. L—Dennison.

        

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