Gallery by Heather Belcher
Fairlea – Greenbrier East’s offense had a forgettable night at the plate.
But for Kayla Bartley it was a night to remember.
The senior hurler swatted a home run, struck out 12 batters and notched career strikeout No. 500 as the Spartans mowed Independence 4-0 Tuesday in Fairlea.
The latest chapter in what’s been a stellar season for the Covington, Va. transfer was as welcome as any other.
The bats struggled to back her up as East stranded 17 runners, leaving the bases loaded in five of the six innings they batted.
“I mean, she was the difference in the game tonight because we didn’t do anything else besides her,” East head coach Aaron Ambler said. “I was pretty upset with the way we handled everything else. We missed signs, we didn’t hit, we didn’t execute and we ran the bases poorly, but she pitched well.”
Ambler’s frustrations were merited despite the win.
Between walks and hit batters, East was given six free passes in the first two innings alone only to come out empty-handed.
Bartley took matters into her own hands to open the third, blasting her fifth long ball of the season over the fence in left-center to give the hosts a 1-0 advantage. Afterwards the walks free passes haunted Indy.
Lily Carola was hit by a pitch to follow Bartley and Ally Martin worked a walk to put two on. After Indy pitcher Payton Brehm secured a pair of outs, the Patriots were on track to escape another inning before a third walk to No. 9 hitter Reagan Cline loaded the bases.
Though they eventually left the bases loaded, the Spartans managed a few more runs when Alanis McClary drew a walk to drive in a run and Hailey Ervin followed by wearing her second pitch of the game to push the advantage to 3-0.
After McClary’s walk, Savannah Stanley was called upon in relief for Indy and yielded a run before escaping the inning down just three runs.
But Indy’s bats never solved Bartley, getting two runners into scoring position all evening with none of them advancing past second base.
“We did a good job getting out of those innings and my pitchers were really good today, a lot better than you’d think,” Indy head coach Ken Adkins said. “With the number of base runners they had, we were just trying not to give up a big hit. And so we did a good job. Paytin came in and wasn’t her best, but she got us out of innings. And then Savannah did a really good job following up. We just didn’t hit. We took a lot of pitches that we should have swung at. We’re a Jekyll or Hyde team – we beat somebody 17 to nothing last night and beat the cover off the ball and then tonight we can’t hit. But (Bartley) is a way different pitcher. She’s a good pitcher who has good command of the zone. And she kind of worked us up and we just, even when we hit balls, we just couldn’t get anything on the screws.”
East outfielder Gracie Gumm later scored on an error in the sixth for the final run of the game but even with the game in hand and Bartley cruising there was frustration from Ambler and the rest of the East coaching staff.
“It was us,” Ambler. “I think we were on the road all last week and last weekend we were in Morgantown. I think we probably were just a little bit tired. We’ll take tomorrow off and hopefully they’ll bounce back. We had mental mistakes, a lot of mental mistakes at this time of year. We can’t be doing that. Can’t be doing it.”
Bartley improved to 6-2 on the season, dropping her ERA to 1.45 in the win.
Brehm was saddled with the loss, yielding three earned runs despite allowing just one hit.
