By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Runs scored on wild pitches and infield singles and doubles down the line. Wednesday’s showdown between two of the top Class 2 softball teams in the state lived up to the hype.
Sixth-ranked Mt. Vernon took a lead on back-to-back wild pitches in the bottom of the fifth and fended off fifth-ranked East Newton 7-4 in a Big 8 contest at Spirit of ’76 Park in Mt. Vernon.
“Two state-ranked teams right there going at it,” Mt. Vernon coach Matt Schubert said. “Two pitchers who were really good, both throwing a lot of strikes and making it tough on hitters and we had some hitters who had really good at bats and were able to hit the ball.
“I’m glad we were able to come out on top.”
Wednesday’s game was a makeup of a rainout two weeks ago and pitted two teams with a combined 31-6 record entering the day. They combined for five strikeouts and just one hit in the first two innings with senior Katelyn Kester pitching for the Patriots and sophomore Harley Daniels throwing for the Mountaineers.
East Newton (18-4) struck first, scoring twice in the top of the third with two outs. Alexa Harris-Schmidt started it with a double over the left fielder and later scored on an infield single by Kayla Higginbotham, who advanced to second on the play. She scored on an infield single by Mackenzie Massey.
Mt. Vernon (14-3) tied it at 2 in the bottom of the fourth. Allison Schubert led off with a double on the first pitch and scored two batters later when Daniels singled up the middle. Tasha Collins followed with a double to center to score courtesy runner Molly Burk.
The Mountaineers added three runs in the fifth and combined for a triple, three doubles and two singles in a span of just two innings. Allyson Burk reached on an error and Payge Evans singled over third base; both runners later scored on wild pitches to make it 4-2.
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Hadley Cornell then tripled down the right field line and scored on a single by Schubert.
“(Kester) is probably one of the top two or three pitchers we’ve seen so far and she throws a little harder than most, it just took us a minute to adjust,” Schubert said. “We’ve noticed our second time through the lineup is really a good spin through for us and we tend to hit the ball well that second time.”
Mt. Vernon wasn’t comfortable for long, though. East Newton scored two runs in the sixth to make it a 1-run game. Two errors put runners at first and second with two outs and Josie Guinn plated them both with a double to the left field fence.
The Mountaineers added two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. Kylee Stockton reached on an error, Allyson Burk singled and then Evans lined a single past second base; the Patriots threw out a runner at home to save one run. But with runners at second and third, Hadley Cornell grounded out to first to force in one run and then Schubert reached on an error to score another.
“We got a couple of breaks there, especially late – gave us a couple extra runs for a little bit of that cushion at the end,” Schubert said. “I think that allowed us to relax a little bit more in the last inning.”
Daniels worked around a leadoff single in the seventh and got two strikeouts in the inning to give her 10 for the game. She allowed five hits and just one earned run while throwing 113 pitches.
“Being a power pitcher she strikes out 10 or 12 a game and that really helps our defense as far as limiting the number of opportunities we have to make,” Schubert said.
Kester pitched four innings and struck out four while allowing seven hits and four earned runs. Gracie McMahan pitched 1.2 innings, striking out one and allowing one hit and a run.
“I think it’s hard to win a game when you allow seven runs,” East Newton coach Johnica Hanke said. “I don’t think we played as well as we have been, especially defensively.”
“They’re a good-hitting team, I don’t want to take that away from them,” she said. “We’re usually better at making the plays we have to and the things we can control and we didn’t tonight for sure.”
She said the Patriots need to “clean some things up” and allowed bad plays or at bats to have an effect on the next play or at bat.
“We all put the ball in play hard, we just hit it right at them a lot,” she said. “I’m proud of the girls.”
Schubert was 2-for-4 for Mt. Vernon, Daniels was 2-for-3 and Evans went 2-for-3. Burk and Evans each scored twice.
“It was a conference game and it will actually help us immensely in our district seeding I think,” Schubert said.
