Coal City – Wyoming East was set on not allowing Independence catcher Kaylen Parks to beat them.
Responsible for game-winning home runs in each of her last two matchups against the Lady Warriors, it wasn’t a surprise the East elected to intentionally walk her in all three of her plate appearances Monday.
That strategy ultimately backfired.
Batting two spots behind Parks, Indy outfielder Destiny Blankenship doubled twice, clearing the bases and accumulating 6 RBIs as Indy beat East 8-0 in five innings in Game 1 of the Region 3 championship.
“We’ve been talking about it all year,” Independence head coach Ken Adkins said. “We knew at some point people would start pitching around Kaylen. You don’t have a choice. People talk and they know what’s going on. (East) has paid the price by pitching to her before, so they’ve learned that well but listen, I wouldn’t pitch to her either.
“But what we have to do is take advantage of those opportunities. I thought once we kind of figured out where it was going we had a plan and you’ve got to execute. Those were huge at-bats by Destiny. We moved her down in the order a little bit, but we’ve been fortunate. Kendall (Martin) has 35 RBIs batting right behind Kaylen, so we just have to make them pay and today Destiny helped us do that.”
East’s strategy worked early as Delaney Buckland led off the bottom of the first with a double and Parks was brought up one batter later with one out. She was issued the first of her free passes and East pitcher Olivia Hylton made the most of the opportunity, fanning Martin and Blankenship.
The Lady Warriors meanwhile had their opportunities, getting runners in scoring position in the second and third innings but couldn’t come away with a hit to get over the hump.
The opposite rang true for Indy in the bottom of the third.
A one-out double from Alli Hypes brought Parks to the plate, though she spent more time hustling down to first base than she did with the bat in her hands.
“It depends on what the score is,” East head coach Doc Warner said when asked if Parks would see a pitch in the best-of-3 series. “If they’re up big we might pitch to her. But shoot, the girl behind her had 6 RBIs.”
Hylton followed that up by hitting Martin, bringing Blankenship up with the bases loaded. She promptly unloaded them with a bloop double to right field and scored on an RBI-single from Sarah Bragg.
When the smoke cleared the Lady Patriots were on top 4-0 after three innings with the worst yet to come.
In the bottom of the fourth Hylton retired two of the first three batters but Parks came up, getting her final free pass of the day. That put two on for Martin who lined a ball to center that was dropped. Fortunately for the Lady Warriors some confusion on the basepaths kept Indy from scoring but loaded the bases.
That brought Blankenship back up to the dish. After checking her swing on a close pitch with two strikes and getting the call, she smoked the next for her second bases-clearing double of the game.
“I wasn’t comfortable the first time,” Blankenship said. “I got comfortable and saw a few pitches the next two times around. I just got up there and they told me to be confident and put the ball in play. I just don’t really think about it. (Adkins) just tells me not to think about it and hit the ball and that’s really all I can do.”
In a repeat of the previous inning Blankenship scored on an RBI-single from Bragg, making it 8-0 and putting the mercy rule into effect.
East was only able to muster one a single baserunner in the top of fifth and Buckland retired three straight to end the game.
“We had to hit and a lot of it’s up here,” Warner said, pointing to his head. “We had runners but we fouled off the good pitches to hit. But (Buckland’s) a good pitcher. She did her job.”
Lilly Hill had East’s only two hits of the game – both singles.
The best-of-3 series will shift to Wyoming East on Tuesday with the Lady Warriors needing a win to keep their season alive.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
WE: 000 00 – 0 2 2
I: 004 4x- 8 7 1
Pitching and catching – WE: Olivia Hylton and Paige Laxton; I: Delaney Buckland and Kaylen Parks. WP: Buckland, LP: Hylton. Hitting – WE: Lilly Hill 2-2; I: Delaney Buckland 2-3 (2B), Alli Hypes 1-3 (2B), Kaylen Parks (3 IBB), Destiny Blankenship 2-3 (2 2B, 6 RBI), Sarah Bragg 2-3 (2 RBI).
