Gallery by Heather Belcher
Most of the softball showdowns between Independence and Beckley have not gone well for the Patriots with Aubrey Smallwood in the opposing circle.
Monday night, the sophomore hurler once again frustrated the ladies from Coal City.
After striking out 18 batters in a 4-2 win three weeks ago, Smallwood fanned 19 batters Monday to lead the Flying Eagles to an 8-4 win for the season sweep.
“I knew this was going to be another tough game that would come down to who made the most errors,” Smallwood said. “I think I do better against Independence because I have played with these girls my whole life. It makes it a lot more fun when you know people. Win or lose, they are not in our section, so it is just fun to play them.”
It also didn’t hurt that Smallwood was staked to a quick 4-0 lead after the first inning.
Leadoff hitter Jasmine Daubert fired up the Beckley machine when she reached on an infield single. Smallwood and Brooklyn Bird followed with solid singles to load the bases prior to Daubert scoring on a passed ball for a 1-0 lead.
Savannah Bragg then lifted a bloop fly into the gap between third base and shortstop that could not be played in the breezy conditions. Katelyn Hamb, who had entered as a courtesy runner for Smallwood, scored on the play for a 2-0 advantage.
The big blast of the first inning came off of the bat of Presley Bailey who blasted a double over the right fielder’s reach scoring both Bird and Bragg.
“If you give Aubrey a few runs, she is tough. Unfortunately where we struggle sometimes is getting her some runs,” Beckley head coach Tony Maiolo said. “It definitely helped getting those early runs and it was really good seeing the team hitting there a little bit early.”
The lead was 5-0 before Independence showed some life in the top of the fourth inning. Only hitting one ball out of the infield, the Patriots found a way to score three critical runs.
The reversal of fortune started with a dropped fly ball in center field which put Kendall Martin at second base with no outs.
A bunt single from Kassidy Bradbury moved runners to the corners before Smallwood struck out the next batter. However, on the dropped third strike, Martin scored on the throw down to first base to get Varney.
The Patriots refused let up on the small-ball attack, scoring another run when Harmony Mills reached on a throwing error after she dropped down a bunt.
Bradbury, who had swiped second base, scored on the errant throw to trim the lead back to 5-2.
Mills took second on the errant throw before stealing third and scoring on a passed ball to cut the lead back to 5-3.
“We have kind of been expecting teams to start playing small ball on us,” Smallwood said. “We haven’t worked a lot on it, so it showed us what we need to work on to better ourselves.”
Beckley threatened in the fifth inning, but could not score and then saw Independence cut the margin in half in the top of the sixth.
Varney reached on a solid single to center to open the inning before being lifted for pinch-runner Acasia Cook. Cook promptly stole second and third to give the Patriots a great scoring chance.
Mills stepped in a dropped another bunt, scoring Cook on the throw to retire Mills at first base.
However, Beckley dashed all thoughts of a late come back with a three-run outburst in the bottom of the inning.
Daubert opened the inning with a single before a critical error stung the Patriots.
“To my knowledge, we didn’t make a single play on defense today. We botched every play that we had and the catcher lets two balls go by her,” Independence head coach Ken Adkins said.
An error on a routine ground ball from Natalia Meade went from being a possible double-play ball to giving Beckley runners at first and second with no outs.
“We are thinking something that is not making the plays. Other teams don’t do that for us. They are always looking to make plays,” Adkins said. “We have days when we make all of the plays, but you can’t put it all on the pitcher to strike everybody out because we can’t field the ball or catch a fly ball.”
After Smallwood ripped a single to left to load the bases, Brooklynn Bird stepped in and inserted the dagger with a double to the fence in left-center.
After Bird’s blast brought home two runs, Bragg scored the third run of the inning on a ground ball out for the 8-4 margin.
Smallwood fanned all three batters in the final frame much to the frustration of the Indy coach.
“We struckout 19 times. I am not sure how we are even in the game. She struckout 18 the last time we faced her,” Adkins lamented. “It is bad pitch selection. We swing at balls over our heads. We never had a three-pitch strike at bat the whole game. She didn’t have to throw three strikes because we were swinging at bad pitches. That pretty much sums up tonight for us.”
Daubert and Smallwood each had three hits, while Bird had two. Smallwood appeared to have a home run in the fourth inning before the wind knocked the ball down, dropping it at the base of the fence in centerfield.
As a team the Flying Eagles collected 11 hits on the day.
“Independence is always good and it’s always a tough game, so it was good to get the win,” Maiolo said. “It was also nice to see us hit the ball since we had been struggling.”
