Braylee Sturts home run leads Lady Whippets to win
Shelby Lady Whippet softball picked up a huge conference win with a dramatic 3-2 victory over Clear Fork on Thursday evening at the Whippet Athletic Complex.
With the win, Shelby jumps back into a tie for first place in the Midohio Athletic Conference with the Colts, both teams are now sporting 9-1 conference records.
Sensational defense, a solid pitching effort and timely hitting all led to the comeback victory.
With the Whippets trailing 2-0 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, Kendal Parsons ripped a lead off double. After an out that moved Parsons to third, Kennedy Studer walked. Katie Taylor then hit a sacrifice fly to score Parsons to make it 2-1.
In probably her biggest at-bat in her young Shelby career, freshman Braylee Sturts launched a two-out, two-run home run over the right field fence to give Shelby a 3-2 lead.
The Lady Whippets then sat Clear Fork down in order in the top of the seventh to bring home victory.
Shelby played errorless ball and made a few fantastic plays in the field to backup Shelby starter, Lexi Booker. Booker fired a complete game two-hitter, allowing two runs, a walk and a strike out.
Lady Whippet head coach, Sami Martin spoke about the victory.
“Tonight we scored the
same amount of runs as last night, the difference was our defense. Our defense played lights out and our outfielders made some crazy good plays,” she said.
“Lexi was able to keep them guessing tonight and threw the change in great locations. She pitched a great game. It feels good to see the girls bounce back the way they did and being back in the driver’s seat to try and win the league,” Martin said.
Shelby controls their own destiny for a chance at the league championship.
The Whippets have four league games remaining, two against
Ontario and a pair against Pleasant. If the Whippets can get those four victories, Shelby would claim at least a share of the league title.
Sturts smacked a homer and a double for Shelby. Parsons belted two doubles. Taylor and Mallary Gundrum each had a base hit.
Shelby was traveling to Danville on Friday evening. The Lady Whippets travel to Ontario on Tuesday, then host the Lady Warriors on Wednesday, both league games start at 5:15 p.m.