Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Farmington Contains Lincoln’s Bats
LADY CARDINALS WIN RIVALRY SOFTBALL GAME 4-2
FARMINGTON — Senior Remington Adams blazed her way to an in-the-park home run in the leadoff slot as Farmington beat Lincoln, 4-2, in nonconference softball action on Wednesday, April 6.
Adams’ score momentarily took the breath away from Lincoln ( 17-5), which had jumped out to a 2-0 lead in its first at-bat. The senior shortstop wasted no energy rounding first and second and took off for third. When a throw went high into the Farmington dugout, she raced home slashing the Lady Wolves’ lead in half as the only Farmington batter who had yet to make an appearance in the bottom of the first inning.
“She obviously hit the ball super hard and when it caromed off the wall the way that it did that meant there was one more base there. She’s the most instinctive base runner we have and she’s fast so she’s pretty much [given a] green light to do what she wants to do out there so good things happen,” said Farmington coach Jason Shirey.
Lady Wolves Fizzle
Lincoln coach Brittany Engel liked the manner in which the Lady Wolves asserted themselves in the batter’s box out of the gate. They captured a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Lily Riherd doubled and drove in Brinkley Moreton and Saylor Stidham.
“I was pretty happy with the way we started. We came out and did what we do best. We hit the ball, got on base, scored two runs. I was sad to see it kind of fizzled out a little bit, but they [Farmington] are a good team. I just wish we would have competed a little more because I know we have it,” Engel said.
The Lady Wolves hurt themselves by not getting a third out when they allowed Farmington first baseman Grace Boatright to reach on an error. One batter earlier Reese Shirey singled. She stole second with Boatright taking strike two and tied the game at 2-2 on the error.
Engel went out to the chalked circle to emphasize the importance of making routine plays but the error would cost them one more run. Morgan Uher and Isabella Hulsey hit back-toback singles. Boatright scored from second on Hulsey’s hit pushing Farmington in front 3-2.
Engel said she doesn’t want to see those type of missed opportunities, especially not in a game that Lincoln already knew was probably going to be a pretty close game.
“We just can’t afford those little mistakes. It wasn’t even big mistakes but the little mistakes cost you games and I think that cost us a little bit of this game today,” Engel said.
Legacy Environment
Randy Osnes Field represents a markedly tough environment for opponents, something first-year Lincoln assistant Brooklyn Keeling, a 2015 Farmington graduate, tried to prepare the Lady Wolves for in advance.
“It’s a tough crowd to play in front of, too. It’s always packed here and I told them coming into today that this is probably going to be the closest atmosphere you’re going to get until we get that postseason state tournament run, state championship run, and you got to be able to play under that pressure, playing under the pressure of the crowd, lights, everything. It’s always great to play here, it just gives you a little bit of intensity and we like that. I’m proud of us for the show that we put on today,” Keeling said.
Lincoln rolled into town bringing a competitive softball squad treating fans to a rivalry contest that hasn’t been played every year with the schools in different classifications. Freshman Brinkley Moreton (10-2) absorbed her second loss of the season for Lincoln. She surrendered 4 runs on 3 hits over six innings, while striking out 11 with no walks although she hit a couple of batters.
“They’re obviously a good group. They start in the circle. They’ve built up the middle there. You can see why they’re winning a lot of ball games and we were fortunate tonight to piece a few things together. Kamryn settled down after the first inning and Morgan came in and cleaned things up,” Jason Shirey said.
Junior Kamryn Uher (3-2) took the win for Farmington (9-3, 2-0). She threw 4 innings, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits with 5 strike outs before giving way to her freshman sister, Morgan Uher, who picked up her first high school save.
Base Runners Stranded
Lincoln got two runners on in the second. Alexandra Torres led off with an infield single. She stole second and moved to third on a fielder’s choice then Moreton walked with two outs placing runners at the corners. Farmington’s defense held sway, however, and the Lady Wolves couldn’t push a run across leaving two runners stranded.
“I’m happy with our effort. We had a couple of really nice catches in the outfield and they had a chance to score. We ran down a ball and then caught another one in right field so I’m happy with the kid’s efforts. It’s a good win, Lincoln’s a good team,” Jason Shirey said.
His daughter, sophomore Reese Shirey, made a key play with Torres at third and Moreton on first by tracking a fly ball in left center field and catching it for the third out.
“I’m glad she was there. She made up for taking a called strike three. Yeah, that was a big play running that ball down. Obviously it kept the momentum for us and then in the [bottom of] the fourth we were able to score that fourth run which I think really kind of let us settle down a little bit more because we had a little bit to play with,” Jason Shirey said.
Kamryn Uher was hit by a pitch in the fourth. She went to second on a ground out and was replaced by a courtesy runner. Farmington scored its fourth run on a throwing error when the ball went past third during a steal.