Gallery by Karen AkersĀ
Coal City – In a season-long series that’s gone down to the wire, it’s only fitting Shady Spring and Independence will need a fifth game to decide the season series, as well as who gets to keep playing.
Jumping out to a 2-0 first-inning lead, Independence held off a late Shady rally to extend its season with a 4-2 victory over the Tigers Monday in the Class AA Region 3, Section 2 tournament in Coal City.
The two teams will meet again on Tuesday in Coal City with the winner advancing to the regional round and the loser calling it a season.
Taking a different approach against a pitcher – Paige Maynard – that had pitched 26 consecutive shutout innings against them, the Patriots forced Maynard to come at them and it worked with the Penn State signee struggling to find the zone early.
“We talked about that,” Indy head coach Ken Adkins said. “This is the same exact scenario we were in with Wyoming East in 2019. We should’ve been the No. 1 seed but lost the first game and had to battle back and beat them twice. I told them the difference in that game was we decided to make the pitcher deal with us rather than us deal with the pitcher. Today, for the most part I told them if the ball’s up you’ve got to take that.
“You’ve just got to take those pitches. We still swung at a few and (the home plate umpire) called a couple but for the most part when you take the rise ball away and now you’re just in the strike zone swinging in and out, you can handle that. You can’t deal with her if you’re going to swing at pitches up. She’s throwing 63-65 MPH and if you’re going to swing at that thing up that’s like trying to catch the wind. You’re not hitting that. You’ve got to make her come down in the zone.”
That approach aided the hosts well as Indy pitcher Delaney Buckland drew a leadoff walk before courtesy runner Brooklyn White relieved her and moved to third after a stolen base and a sac-bunt.
Maynard nearly worked out of the jam with a strikeout but a nine-pitch at-bat from Sarah Bragg resulted in the second free pass of the frame. Both stung Maynard.
Facing freshman Savannah Stanley, Maynard yielded a single that scored both runners, establishing a 2-0 Indy lead.
“We got behind in the count with a couple batters early and got to the point where we had to choke zone a strike to make something happen and they did their part. They had a little discipline at the plate and they hit those pitches they knew were going to have to come down the pipe and they hit them solid. They did their part and hit up some runs.”
With the two teams combining to score four runs in their previous three games, the 2-0 lead seemed insurmountable but it wasn’t satisfying. It’s why the Patriots tacked on another in the fifth when a pitch bounced out of play with the runner stealing third, allowing the them to take home and build a 3-0 lead.
That run proved critical with the Shady bats finding life in the top of the sixth.
A one-out walk issued to Kaylee Waddell proved to be trouble as Maynard followed with a single up the middle. Adkins then made the decision to intentionally walk Shady all-stater Olivia Barnett to get to cleanup hitter Haley Wood.
The decision backfired to an extent, but was still better than the alternative.
Wood singled to right field, scoring one run and a bobble of the ball allowed another to cross the plate, putting two in scoring position for Shady in a 3-2 game.
“The ump called it tight today and that forced both our hands,” Adkins said. “When they get the hit I’m telling you I’ll walk (Barnett) five more times. The odds are Olivia Barnett is going to get you sooner or later and she’s not going to get me – not today. She came up there with two on and I thought this is a tie ballgame – I know what the plan should be but if we miss a pitch she’s hitting it out. She’s hungry so I said we’ll take our chances with the other two and the girl got me.”
Wood’s single was the last beacon of hope with Buckland regrouping to fan the next two batters. A steal of third in the bottom of the frame helped Indy get one of the runs back as a throw to the plate sailed down the third base line, providing Buckland some breathing room.
She ultimately didn’t need it, retiring Shady in order in the top of the seventh to extend the season.
Buckland finished the game with 13 strikeouts, while Maynard added nine.
Tuesday’s game will start at 6 p.m. with both hurlers set to face off for the final time in their careers.
“The approach for tomorrow is going to be like the other four times we’ve played these guys,” Barnett said. “We’ve got to be unselfish in the box and we’re going to pitch well and field well. We’ve got to do the little things right. A couple of mistakes in the weird game of softball made the difference today. A couple of those things don’t happen and we’re still probably 2-2 and playing for a couple more days. We just have to take advantage of the opportunities we have and shut the door on them with two outs. There’s no magic formula, just a game.”
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94