The names and the faces may change over the years, but the basics on the diamond remain tried and true.
One of the more well known basics is if you give a good team extra outs, that team will burn you.
Tuesday night Independence turned the flame up in a showdown with Greenbrier East at Larry “Tom” Poe Field in Coal City.
Aided by three critical errors from the visitors in the bottom of the first inning, the Patriots scored five times and never looked back.
When the final out was recorded in the fifth inning, Independence stood on the winning side of a 10-2 decision over the Spartans.
“I give Indy credit. They went out and did what they needed to do and we did not,” Greenbrier East head coach Aaron Ambler said. “We beat ourselves in the first inning. I feel like it took us eight outs to get three. We gave them five just in that first inning on routine easy plays.”
Delaney Buckland opened the home half of the first with a walk before the red-hot Alli Hypes ripped a single to the left-center field fence.
With runners at second and third, East started to work out of the jam with a big strikeout before Kendall Martin dropped a bunt hoping to score a runner on the throw.
The run never materialized, but when the ball was dropped on the throw to first, the Patriots had the sacks juiced with just one out.
However, another strikeout by East starter Josi Ervin brought the Spartans agonizingly close to a big escape, but a two-out single changed the complexion of the game.
Freshman basketball standout Harmony Mills stepped in and delivered the clutch base-knock to score a pair of runs, giving Indy a lead it never relinquish.
With both runners moving up on the throw home, the Patriots were gifted another run when a fly ball in the infield was dropped allowing a run to score.
A throwing error on a ball to second base surrendered the fourth run of the inning before Allie Warden capped the explosion with an RBI-single.
Following a brutal slate of games last week, the ladies from Coal City looked rested and ready Tuesday.
“We played eight games in six days. I have to admit, I was tired and I wasn’t the one running the bases,” Independence head coach Ken Adkins said. “We have been playing well, but just missing some things by a little bit. We focused on running the bases and being a little more aggressive and that really paid off today when we had that big inning. That big result is because we ran the bases hard. It just makes thing happen.”
The trip to Coal City for the Spartans was an eventful one and even though they scored early on a Lily Carola single, it was all downhill from there.
“I would like to blame it on the bus breaking down at the top of Sandstone (Mountain), but I am not going to do that. That’s life and things happen. You have to play through adversity. We won’t use that as an excuse,” Ambler said. “We came out, put the bat on the ball and then we self-destructed. We beat ourselves today. You can’t play the way we did and beat a team like (Independence).”
For the next three innings, Buckland was stellar in the circle allowing just one base hit. While Buckland was holding East at bay, her teammates were putting the bat on the ball with regularity.
“We are a lot more confident and they are just more mature now. We had a few days off and I really saw a lot of pop today,” Adkins said. “Even before the game started I could tell we were in a good place.”
Hypes ripped a double to the fence to open the second inning and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Martin.
The remaining damage came in the fourth inning when Independence scored four more runs to basically seal the win.
Warden led off the inning with a single and scored on a double from Buckland. Martin then collected her second RBI of the night on another sac fly before Kassidy Bradbury smacked a double, scoring two additional runs for a 10-1 lead.
The Spartans added a run in the fifth inning via an RBI-single from Lindsey Black before Buckland retired the next batter to seal the win.
In a game billed as showdown between two of the better teams in the state, regardless of class, the performance by Greenbrier East was not what Ambler expected.
“We preach to the girls that at this time of the season we want our trajectory to be going up, but today that is not what we were doing,” Ambler said. “We asked them to go home and think about the game and come back tomorrow and be ready to go. Put this game behind us. Obviously one game does not make a season. We have played some great softball this year and strung together some good wins. Today was one of those days where we just didn’t show up.”
Independence hosts Nitro Wednesday to close out the regular season.
Greenbrier East is on the road the next two days with games at Nicholas County Wednesday and Shady Spring Thursday. The Spartans wrap up their regular season Saturday hosting PikeView.
