Big fifth inning helps Davis, Sonoraville to victory over Calhoun
Sonoraville’s Kristen Davis kept the Calhoun bats at bay for the first five innings, throwing up scoreless frame after scoreless frame. She just needed some support from her offense, and in the fifth inning they came through big for her with a string of clutch hits that proved to be the difference in a huge subregion rivalry win over the Lady Jackets.
The Lady Phoenix (8-7, 3-0 subregion) scored four runs in the fifth, and Davis finished things off from there with two more scoreless innings to complete the shutout as Sonoraville defeated their rivals 4-0 to get an early leg up in the Region 6-AAA South standings.
“It’s huge,” said Sonoraville coach Chad Hayes of the win. “We’ve had some adversity early on this season and lost some games that we probably shouldn’t have. I know that this is probably one of the best groups we’ve had, and when we put it all together, this is what we’re capable of. They are starting to believe, and hopefully we can keep it going.
“It’s big because that puts us at the top of the subregion, but we can’t take the foot off the gas. We’ve got to believe in how good we can be, and this team can do some great things.”
Davis was impressive for Sonoraville, keeping the Lady Jackets (11-3, 1-1) off the basepaths for much of the night. She faced one big jam as Calhoun came out in the top of the sixth and loaded the bases with no outs after Sonoraville had built their 4-0 lead in the previous inning. But Davis buckled down to get two pop-outs sandwiched around a strikeout to escape the inning.
In all, Davis went seven innings and gave up just three hits while striking out eight and walking three. Hayes said she showed her top-notch ability as an ace in a huge game on Tuesday.
“When she’s on, she’s really tough to beat,” said Hayes. “She’s kind of had a slow start to the season like the team has, but she has really responded the last few games and been lights out lately. She’s also had a little bit of an injury that she’s finally getting over now, and that’s helping her to throw it well right now too. I’m really proud of the way she pitched today against a good team like Calhoun.”
Sonoraville had some chances earlier in the game to push a run across to take the lead, but each time they left the runners at either second or third. Calhoun pitcher Blair Hall had a lot to do with that as she pitched well in her own right but took the toughluck loss. The Lady Phoenix finally took advantage of their scoring opportunity in the fifth when Karley Thomas knocked home Katie Williams with a big RBI-single to make it 1-0. After a walk and a fielder’s choice, Griffin Holden ripped a two-out double to drive in another run and Davis then helped her own cause with a two-RBI single.
Holden and Davis both finished 2-for-3 in the middle of the lineup. Shayna Dutton added a double, and Mollie Locke also had a hit and also reached on a walk. Harleigh Chastain walked and scored a run.
“We’ve been a little streaky offensively, but we’ve been able to put together one big inning in several games and today it was the fifth,” said Hayes. “We were able to string some hits together and put four runs on the board. This is a really good hitting lineup, and they can score some runs if we have the right approach and hit it like we’re able to. We got a big double from Shayna to start off the fifth and get the ball rolling, and then several girls stepped up with clutch hits, a couple of them with two outs.”
Hall took the loss for Calhoun despite some solid work in the circle, including working her way out of a few jams with the help of some great defense around her. She went five innings and gave up four runs on seven hits while striking out six. Maggie McBrayer came on to pitch a scoreless inning of relief and struck out one.
Offensively, leadoff hitter Carlie Henderson had all three hits for the Lady Jackets, including a double. Maddie Bumgardner, Adella Carver and Lyndi Rae Davis all reached on walks. Calhoun coach Diane Smith said her team has to figure out a way to put together some hits with runners on, especially in a situation like they had in the sixth with bases loaded, no outs.
“When you have the bases loaded and no outs, you’ve got to find a way to get those runners around,” said Smith. “You’ve got to do something, put the ball in play. You’ve got to score there. We didn’t do well in that situation.
“We were fortunate not to be down before that because (Sonoraville) had some chances earlier on to score, but our pitching a defense came through to keep it at 0-0. I feel like we’re still a good team. We just need to find a way to score runs in big situations.”
The Lady Phoenix stayed unbeaten early on in the subregion with the win. The top finisher in the subregion gets to host the first round of the region tournament so they know the importance of prioritizing every subregion contest. Hayes said just because they earned a big win over Calhoun, they can’t relax now.
“That’s what we’ve been preaching,” said Hayes. “We’ve been disappointed with some of our earlier performances in the season, but I think we’re finally hitting our stride and seeing what we can be when we put it all together. But this whole subregion is strong. There isn’t a day you can take off. If you don’t play well, you’ll get beat. We want to go out and get the job done every day.”
Sonoraville was on the road on Thursday at Adairsville; Calhoun hosted Bremen. (For details on those games, see Wednesday’s Calhoun Times.)
Sonoraville will visit Coahulla Creek on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. Calhoun travels to Gordon Central on Wednesday at 5 p.m.