Gallery by Heather Belcher
Coal City – Calling Tuesday’s matchup between Independence and Shady Spring a pitcher’s duel wouldn’t capture the magnitude of what transpired.
A pitcher’s war, spearheaded by two of the best in the state, would be more appropriate.
But as in any war, the outcome was ultimately decided by the troops surrounding the generals.
Shady Spring strung together three hits in the top of the 15th inning to beat sectional rival Independence 1-0 in 15 innings Tuesday in Coal City.
Getting to that point took everything starting pitchers Delaney Buckland (Independence) and Paige Maynard (Shady Spring) had, with neither blinking along the way. The hurlers both maxed out their 14-inning limits, combining for 64 strikeouts in what amounted to career games for both.
The performance had added meaning for Maynard who struck out 34 batters, breaking Chapmanville graduate Andi Williamson’s single-game statewide strikeout record of 33. The tying strikeout came on the penultimate batter of her final frame and the record-breaking one came on her final pitch of the contest.
Maynard with three strikeouts. She now holds the state’s single-game strikeout record with 34#wvprepsb pic.twitter.com/bRODGwBJxx
— Tyler Jackson (@TJack94) April 13, 2022
The win was also significant as it was Maynard’s first career victory over Independence.
“I wanted to come out strong and really make sure I was hitting all of my spots,” Maynard said. “My spin was moving and I really wanted to battle hard for our girls. We needed this win and we wanted this win and I’m just so proud of us for not giving up and making sure we made every play that we could, not giving up in the box and really coming out here and giving it our all.”
Leading off the bottom of the first, Buckland got the better of Maynard at the plate, lacing a double to threaten Shady early. A walk to Alli Hypes and a stolen base put two in scoring position with no outs, nearly derailing Maynard’s gem from the jump. But in a sign of what was to come, she struck out the following three batters to wiggle out of the jam.
From there it took 12 more innings for Independence to put a runner on base as Maynard retired 39 straight batters after walking Hypes.
“I’ve either played, coached or watched softball and baseball since I was seven years old and I’m 56. I’ve never watched a game on tv like that, never seen anything like it in my life,” Independence head coach Ken Adkins said. “Two great pitching performances. I told Don when we pulled both pitchers, I have all kinds of new respect for Paige there. She had all kinds of opportunities to break and she did not. As a matter of fact, she probably struck out 11 or 12 in a row and I broke it up with an attempted bunt on a third strike because I said I’m not going to be struck out here for seven straight innings. It was crazy.
“But I told our kids they gave us the same opportunity Wyoming East always gives us. We had runners on second and third with nobody out and didn’t score. We never really, until the very end of the game, never had a threat again. (Maynard) was pretty dialed in to the strike zone and we took way too many pitches.”
In a contrast, Shady had opportunities as well, getting runners in scoring position in the first, sixth, eighth, ninth and 11th innings but Buckland was every bit as dominant as her counterpart using strikeouts and popups to escape multiple jams, fanning 30 batters for a new career high.
“I just had to dig deep after about the seventh inning,” Buckland said. “You could tell that both of us were getting tired and we just had to give all we could.”
“I told her ‘do not blink!’ and she didn’t” Adkins said of Buckland. “We made some great – and I feel like the umpires squeezed us a few times – but if you get the ball in the zone all these teams can hit it. We had a great play in centerfield to save us one time and a huge play in right field. Typically that’s a game that we fold in and our defense lets us down but I feel like for the most part our defense kept us in the game when we got pinched and had to come into the zone. But you know what, you can’t be disappointed. At some point the astonishment of the game kicks in and you’re like ‘holy cow, what have I just been a part of here?'”
With neither player blinking it nearly stood that neither would receive a decision for their efforts. Maynard’s teammates made sure that wouldn’t be the case. After Buckland exited, freshman Emma Lilly was called on to relieve her and Shady finally strung together a slew of timely hits.
Kayleigh Akers drew a one-out walk in the 15th, advancing to third after a pair of singles from the No. 8 and 9 hitters. Afterwards Kaylee Waddell played hero, finding the hole in the defense with her own single that plated Akers for the game’s only run.
Indy had a chance to tie in the bottom of the 15th with Hypes and Sarah Bragg both reaching base but Hadley Wood secured the save for Shady, fielding a grounder and tossing to first for the final out of the game.
“That is probably the biggest thing we’re going to take away from tonight,” Shady head coach Donald Barnett said. “It would’ve been real easy for these girls to be frustrated early on and to have given up especially with some of the poor batter discipline we had in the box. But they hung in there and started putting the ball in play and we hit the ball solid three or four times that coddle ended the game in the first seven or eight innings, but they made some outstanding catches in the outfield and we told the girls statistically speaking if you keep putting the ball in play eventually it’ll fall and I’m glad they didn’t give up. This was a nice one for Shady softball.”
Maynard picked up the win with the only run being scored before the official pitching change was made while Buckland received a no decision for her excellent outing.
“She’s an elite pitcher that put on the performance of her life in one of the biggest games we were going to have this season,” Barnett said. “I couldn’t be any more proud of Paige Maynard for the job she did tonight.”
Shady improves to 8-2, splitting the regular season series with Independence while the Patriots drop to 9-6.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
SS: 000 000 000 000 001 – 1 6
I: 000 000 000 000 000 – 0 3
Pitching and catching – SS: Paige Maynard, Hadley Wood and Kaylee Waddell; I: Delaney Buckland, Emma Lilly and Alyssa Daniels. WP: Maynard, LP: Lilly.
Hitting – SS: Waddell 2-7 (RBI), Lawson 1-6, Barnett 1-7 (2B), Wood 1-5, Hoke 1-6, Osborne 1-6; I: Buckland 1-6 (2B), Bragg 1-6, Daniels 1-5.
Shady’s Paige Maynard (left) and Independence’s Delaney Buckland (right) combined for 64 strikeouts tonight. Both reach their 14-inning limit in a 1-0 Shady win. Maynard received the win while Buckland received a no decision.#wvprepsb pic.twitter.com/Mt8UIlhic3
— Tyler Jackson (@TJack94) April 13, 2022
