The Tigers
sought to even their record against the 0-2 Sluggers today,
but needed to rally on both offense and defense to pull it
out.
Again in the visitors role, the
Tigers jumped ahead of the Sluggers 2-0. Rutherford
Stephens started things off with a double to the left side
and stole third while Katie
Westmoreland and Audrey
Hipple walked behind her. Allyson
drew a third walk to put the first run on the board, and Brittany
Leeper was hit to force in the second. But the
Tigers couldn't manage a third run for the first time this
season in the opening frame, leaving the bases loaded.
Katie
got in a groove after walking the first four and hitting a
fifth. With the bases loaded, nobody out, and two runs
in, she struck out a pair before letting the Sluggers off the
hook with another walk.
The Sluggers took the 3-2 lead into
the second, but the Tigers took it right back. Irene
Tsinajinnie, Stami
Luchette, Tina Savic,
and Caroline Kilday
walked to tie the game, and Katie
finished things off with a two run double, Tina
scoring from second.
Rutherford
came in to pitch the bottom of the inning, and had her best
outing of the season. Two walks opened the inning,
though the second marked the first time she went to a full
count on a batter. Facing the Sluggers leadoff hitter,
Alyx Monroe, she fell behind 0-3 before coming back with three
strikes for her first strikeout. The next two batters
singled, though, putting the Sluggers back in front 6-5.
The Tigers grabbed the lead back
without a hit in the third, picking up walks to Audrey,
Allyson, and Kinsey
Phillips to load the based, while Stami
was hit by a pitch to drive in a run, sandwiched between RBI
walks to Irene
and Tina.
With a 8-6 lead, Katie
came back to the
mound. Despite picking up a strikeout, Katie
walked three batters and hit three more, putting the Sluggers
back into the lead 9-8, with both teams entering the final
inning with their leadoff hitters due up first.
Caroline
started the Tigers fourth as anticipated, with a hard single
to the left side. She stole two bases before Rutherford
sent her home on another hard grounder to the left, but Rutherford
was a step late as Megan Ralston, the Sluggers shortstop, came
up with the ball and nipped her at first. Katie
unloaded a fly to center. The ball reached the fence
quickly; when Katie
hesitated on the way to second, she became an easy out.
A bouncer to first followed, where Hanna Wilson recovered in
time to retire the speedy Audrey.
Needing just one run to win, the
Sluggers looked certain to take this one away from the Tigers
as they sent the top of their lineup to bat against their
coach. Kinsey
handled a grounder to second for the first out, though, and Allyson
at third moved to her left to make a backhanded grab of a soft
fly to leave the Sluggers with two outs and the bases
empty. Taylor Fleming got away with a comebacker to the
mound, but Katie
picked off a liner to close the inning, and give the Tigers
another chance.
Moving to extra innings, the Tigers
put Audrey on
second, per normal ASA rules. Allyson
gave the Tigers no need for Audrey's
speed, crushing a ball into right-centerfield for a triple,
and very nearly a home run as she flew around the bases.
Allyson scored
easily as Brittany
singled to the left side, and Ashley
Favors knocked her around, hitting the first pitch.
Now sporting a 12-9 lead, the Tigers needed another big
defensive effort to preserve the win.
As it turned out, the Sluggers didn't
do much slugging. Two strikeouts took the edge off
before a double scored the Sluggers extra inning runner on
second, and the following batter ended the game with a third
strikeout. The 12-10 victory pulls the Tigers back into
a 3rd place tie with the Thrashers.
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Recent Results
Thursday, April 12
Titans 7, Panthers
6
Friday, April 13
Sluggers v
Titans - postponed
Saturday, April 14
Tigers
12, Sluggers 10
Titans 13, Thrashers 4
Upcoming Games
Tuesday, April 17
Sluggers v
Panthers (7:45)
Thursday, April 19
Tigers v
Titans (7:45)
Friday, April 20
Thrashers v
Tigers (7:45)
Tiger of the Game
After
a pair of honorable mentions, Allyson
Williams left no doubt about Tiger of the Game,
drawing two walks before making both dramatic plays of the
game: an inning-turning grab at third in the fifth, followed
by a triple in the fifth, driving in the game winning run!
Next Game
Date: Thursday, April 19
Time: 7:45 PM
Opponent: Titans
Drinks: Phillips
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