Gallery by Tina Laney
Coal City – Monday night at Larry “Tom” Poe Field, Independence winning the Class AA Region 3, Section 2 championship game seemed to be a foregone conclusion.
True to form the Patriots did capture the sectional crown, but Independence had to overcome a gutsy effort from county rival Shady Spring.
The Tigers battled relentlessly over four innings before back-to-back three run innings by the Patriots led to a 9-1 win in six innings.
Shady Spring had plenty of reasons to pack it even before the first pitch Monday night.
In Friday’s battle with Independence, top hitter and pitcher Avary Bragg was suspended, along with head coach Nikki Mays when it was determined Bragg was using an illegal bat which carried an automatic three-game suspension for both player and coach.
Following a 15-0 loss to the Patriots Friday, Shady Spring battled back with an eighth-inning win over Nicholas County Saturday thanks to a walk-off single by Bella Sturgill.
Monday night it got tougher with the Tigers down to just nine players for various reasons. Still Shady refused to quit in a game that virtually no one gave them a chance to win.
“I am so proud of the way they played. We had only nine kids (tonight), our head coach was out, our pitcher was out, and our best hitter was out,” assistant head coach Brantlea Wood said. “They rallied, played defense and got on the bases today. They did good.”
The home team took the early 2-0 lead in the home half of the first inning when senior Kendall Martin found a 3-1 pitch that she liked and gave it a ride to left-centerfield.
“I was just looking for something I could hit. Coming off the bat, I knew it was gone,” Martin said about her fifth long ball of the year. “I don’t want to be disrespectful, but whenever I hit it, I felt it straight off the bat and I knew it was far over (the fence).”
With the visitors struggling to get base runners, Martin did her part to add to the lead in the third inning.
Martin led off with a solid single before moving to second on a stolen base. The big-hitting senior advanced to third on a bunt single from Kassidy Bradbury and later scored on a wild pitch.
Although the Patriots led the entire game, they never could quite shake the pesky Tigers.
“We didn’t help ourselves much tonight. I think through the first four innings we left eight runners on (base) and left the bases loaded once,” Adkins said. “Early on, I didn’t think we played tight, but maybe they played better. I just didn’t think we had much rhythm offensively tonight. I give (Shady Spring) credit. They did a good job. They put some balls in play and the pitcher did a good job. That is going to be a good little pitcher.”
Senior Mallie Lawson fired up the visiting crowd when her hard liner got past the right fielder for a lead-off triple in the fourth inning. Lawson then caught Independence napping on a bunt attempt and race home for Shady’s first run of the game.
The future WVU Tech Golden Bear soccer player finished the night with three hits in three trips to the plate and was outstanding with the glove at shortstop.
“I can’t say enough about Mallie,” her emotional coach said. “She was the glue that held us together, She is our senior and she led by example. She got on base and made defensive plays. You can’t ask for anything else.”
The game slipped away from the Tigers in the fifth inning.
With one run already in on a single from Alli Warden and runners at second and third, Delaney Buckland lifted a fly ball to right field.
On the throw home there was some contact between the catcher and runner scoring from third base. When the throw got away, Warden raced home for the third run of the inning.
Wood appealed for interference on her catcher, but the umpires did not see it that way and the runs stayed on the board. Had the call gone against Independence, Shady would have been out of the inning and only down 4-1, instead of 6-1.
“That one play kind of changed the momentum for us. I feel like that could have gone either way,” Wood said. “There are two less runs and we have another out on the board.”
The Patriots closed the game out in the sixth when Kassidy Bradbury ripped a lead-off double and scored on a single from Harmony Mills.
Warden added to the lead with a single for her second RBI of the night before Ali Hypes was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, bringing in the game-winning run.
The bottom five batters in the order shined for Independence Monday with three RBI and six runs scored.
“We changed things up a little bit and got a couple bunts down and that kind of got us rolling,” Adkins said. “Kassidy did a good job beating out a bunt and the bottom of our order is doing a good job putting the ball in play and getting walks.”
Independence advances to the regional round where it will battle Bluefield for a trip to the state tournament.
“This is insane because last year we lost out to Shady,” Martin said. “I am glad we get to go to regionals. We have a good team behind us. Some of them are young, but we are a good solid team.”
The all-tournament team was made up of Cambria Neal and Bethany Butcher from Nicholas County, along with Maddy Cox and Hailey Brown from Liberty.
Bella Sturgill, Mallie Lawson and Reagan Lane represented Shady Spring. Lane was thrust into the starting pitchers role unexpectedly Friday night.
“(Reagan) went from 15-0 game (Friday against Independence) and throwing every inning to throwing against Nicholas County (Saturday) before coming back to throw today,” Wood said. “The mental toughness was there. She really bared down and went right after them.”
Emma Lilly, Martin and Hypes were selected from Independence, while Buckland was named Most Valuable Player in her final sectional tournament.
“We only get four spots on that all-tournament team, but Kassidy Bradbury deserves to be in that group,” Adkins said. “If I could find another spot, or give another trophy, it would be her. Kassidy has been big in some really big spots.”
