East Webster edged by East Union in 2A
MABEN – It’s been a learning experience for coach Lee Berryhill this season.
For the first time in several years, pitching has been unproven as Berryhill has had seventh grader Liz Massey in the circle and has also used junior second baseman Jessica Davis to help. The Lady Wolverines have needed to play stellar defense to get their team to the third round of the Class 2A state playoffs.
In game one of their series against East Union on Monday, East Webster didn’t make the biggest plays when they needed them the most. The Lady Urchins were opportunistic enough to capitalize on a couple of mistakes in the later innings and they held on for a 7-5 win to push the Lady Wolverines’ backs against the wall.
The pitching was strong enough for East Webster (16-6) against a solid hitting East Union bunch. Massey pitched the first five innings allowing nine hits and five runs while striking out two batters and walking another. Davis pitched the final two innings with four hits and four strikeouts.
“Our pitching got behind in counts and (East Union) put the ball in play in those counts,” Berryhill said. “We made some miscues on defense and gave them some runs, but you’ve got to give them credit for putting pressure on us. They put the pressure on us and we didn’t respond the right way.”
It was a couple of plays that really haunted the Lady Wolverines late.
Leading 5-4 in the sixth inning, East Webster allowed runners to get into scoring position with one out lifting Massey from the game. A groundout brought in a run to tie the game and a wild pitch followed making it 6-5 East Union.
That was the first lead of the game for the visitors, which wouldn’t relinquish it from there.
The Lady Wolverines had a chance to answer in the bottom of the frame when Jessica Aron led the inning off with a single but a lineout double play from Jennah Pate ended that threat and gave the Lady Urchins all the momentum.
Three-straight hits in the top of the seventh gave East Union an insurance run and its 7-5 lead and the Lady Urchins left a runner stranded on third to end the game.
East Webster had the early 2-0 lead on East Union when a bases loaded double from Mari Todd Brown with two outs put it on the board. Leading 3-2 in the fourth, a two-out triple from Jennah Pate into opposite field put the Lady Wolverines back
up by two runs at 4-2.
East Union came back and tied the game again at 4-4 before Brown doubled with two outs and was brought home on Coy Jennings’ double for the 5-4 lead. The Lady Urchins took over from there.
For East Webster, they pounded out 12 hits in the loss led by Pate’s 3-for-4 afternoon with an RBI. Jessica Davis, Jessica Aron and Brown all had two hits each and Brown drove in two runs and had two doubles.
The Lady Wolverines have their season on the line today as they travel to East Union for a 5 p.m. matchup in game two. They have to win back-to-back games to keep their season alive and advance to the North Half championship this weekend.
“We’ve got to go in and compete,” Berryhill said. “We’ve got to go in and throw strikes, work ahead in counts, make routing plays on defense and we’ve got to get hits. It’s the same things you’ve got to do every day. We’ve just got to do a better job of it (today).”