Gallery by Tina Laney
Independence has searched all season for a consistent pitcher to solidify the top of its rotation.
For the third time in as many days Kenzie Pierce did just that.
Starting her third elimination game in as many days, the freshman went the distance again to secure a 4-2 win against Shady Spring in the Class AA Region 3 Section 2 title game.
With the win Independence (19-13) advances to the regional round for the second consecutive season where it will again face Bluefield the week of May 17 in a best-of-three series.
Pierce’s lone blemish came in the first inning when fellow freshman Jenna Joyce blasted a two-run homer to stake the host Tigers to a 2-0 lead. They managed just four hits the rest of the night.
“I don’t know what it was about her and they really never figured it out either,” Shady head coach Nikki Mays said. “They talked about the rise ball so we’ve tried to scoot them up in the box a little bit but then they were scared they were late on it. They just weren’t comfortable.”
Pierce, who earned Tournament MVP honors, capped the season series with a 2.06 ERA in 20.1 innings pitched against the Tigers, allowing only six earned runs.
No other Indy pitcher that pitched more than an inning against the Tigers this season finished with an ERA below 5.79.
“I asked her the other day after she threw (against Nicholas County) if she was good,” Independence head coach Ken Adkins said. “It was a tight game and she seemed undaunted. She had thrown 4.2 innings in the game we got beat over here in that 9-7 game. And when I went back and looked I pored over the stats the other day – you know, where’s the answer? And so she didn’t let any of their big hitters hit in that game. We made errors and she ended up with two (regular season) losses against Shady Spring. People don’t realize that but she’s the loser in two of those games. But we didn’t support her defensively or offensively. And so I mean, you know, when I told our kids I said, ‘We have a freshman pitcher, you cannot make mistakes,’ and whether they took that upon themselves, the showed more focus.”
While Shady (15-7) struck first the young pitcher shook it off and rolled forward, inducing a pair of outs to escape the inning.
Her offense helped alleviate the pressure as well.
Keandra Spurlock drew a leadoff walk for the Patriots in the second and scored when Ava Parks hit a single that rolled past the left-fielder to cut the deficit in half at 2-1.
But the next two innings were largely quiet aside from a runner left in scoring position on each side.
When Indy did break through it made little difference where the runners were stationed.
Savannah Stanley sparked the rally with a leadoff double in the fifth before Shady pitcher Reagan Lane coaxed a strikeout and groundout, nearly escaping unscathed.
And then Alli Hypes uncorked a two-run home run that swung the momentum and gave Indy the lead. Emma Lilly added insult to injury, following with a solo home run, her fifth of the year, for the final run of the evening.
“I came over and told the kids between innings, ‘She likes to throw one as close to the plate as she can on the first pitch,” Adkins said. “She wants to get ahead and then she starts working up and out. You got to hit that, you got to make her – not swing at the bad pitches and then make her come to the plate. And that’s exactly what they did on those pitches. And when she started coming to the plate we hit all of them well. We just haven’t played well but we got a complete game. I know it was terrible and I was worried it would end up as bulletin board material but I said the first night when we lost here we felt like we were better than them position for position. Now, they’ve got some great players, but they’re not as deep as we are. And so we had some kids that really stepped up.”
Shady was able to put a runner in scoring position with less than two outs in the fifth and sixth innings but Pierce buzzed through the Tigers, stranding their last hopes.
“Towards the end I started to think about it because there’s so much pressure and so much at stake, but it wasn’t too bad,” Pierce said. “I just put the ball where I was supposed to and that’s how it turned out.”
Hypes, Lilly and Parks all finished with two hits each in the win. Joyce led Shady with two hits and two RBIs in the loss.
All four players made the all-tournament team, joined by Allie Bowles (Liberty), Zadie Worley (Liberty), Cam Neal (Nicholas County), Gracie Trentham (Nicholas County), Kaylee Waddell (Shady), Reagan Lane (Shady), Keandra Spurlock (Indy) and Pierce.
