Gritty St. Al drops 10-inning heartbreaker|[4/07/06]
Published 12:00 am Friday, April 7, 2006
As the zeroes and strikeouts piled up and the tension mounted, St. Aloysius’ playoff hopes rose and fell with every pitch Thursday night.
St. Al’s Sarah Franco and Bogue Chitto’s Meleah Brown were deadlocked in a pitchers’ duel that didn’t seem to have any end. Each team squandered the few chances it did have, and as the innings passed it became obvious that one well-placed hit or bunt would ultimately decide the game.
Bogue Chitto finally got it when Dori Hall slapped a grounder to second in the top of the 10th inning. A bad throw on the play allowed two runs to score, and the Lady Cats survived a St. Al rally in the bottom of the inning to win 4-3.
The loss eliminated St. Al (14-6, 4-3 Division 3-1A) from playoff contention. The Lady Flashes needed to beat Bogue Chitto (11-7, 6-1) by at least three runs to secure a postseason berth, or simply win the game and hope Bogue Chitto loses to West Lincoln next week.
“We’ve never really liked (Bogue Chitto) and I don’t think they like us. We were ready to go at them,” Franco said. “It makes it a lot worse. On top of it’s just them, it makes it a lot worse.”
Franco did everything she could to keep the Lady Flashes in the game. Unfortunately, Brown was just as good. Franco finished the game with 17 strikeouts, didn’t allow a walk, and scattered three hits in the first seven innings. Franco struck out nine of the first 10 batters she faced, including eight in a row at one point.
She did allow Bogue Chitto to tie the game at 1-1 on Devon Welch’s RBI single in the sixth, but St. Al’s defense threw two runners out at home in the inning to help her out of the jam.
Brown, meanwhile, finished with 14 strikeouts, walked two and allowed only a single to Taylor George through the first seven innings. George scored on a passed ball in the second inning, but Brown was otherwise untouchable.
Once the game passed into extra innings, however, and the focus shifted to bunting runners into scoring position, the game changed from a pitchers’ duel to a battle of wasted chances.
Each team scored a run in the eighth, but also had runners thrown out at third. St. Al held Bogue Chitto scoreless in the top of the ninth, then missed an opportunity to win it in its half of the inning.
Mary Myers Franco started the ninth at second base under the rules of the international tiebreaker. Cleanup hitter Annie Beaugh bunted her to third, and George and Amy Beaugh also bunted to load the bases with one out.
Brown got Catelyn Park to hit a short fly ball to right – too short to get the run home – and struck out Stephanie Gwin to end the inning.
The inability to score in the inning opened the door for BC in the 10th. Brown started at second and went to third on Miller’s bunt. Miller advanced to second uncontested, and Hall’s grounder and the St. Al error two batters later brought both runners in to make it 4-2.
St. Al got the tying run to third in the bottom of the 10th but couldn’t score. Gwin started at second and scored on a dropped fly ball to cut it to 4-3, and Sarah Kerut – who reached on the error – advanced to third on a ground out. Brown got Mary Myers Franco to chase a high fastball to end the game.