Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Lady Panthers Survive Collision, Stop Lincoln
LINCOLN — Siloam Springs softball team held its breath witnessing catcher Lexi Masters collide with first baseman Micah Curry while trying to field a pop- up during Thursday’s 5-3 win at Lincoln.
Both girls aggressively went after the play like a pair of pinballs inadvertently released into action simultaneously. Each was looking up, following the path of the ball between home plate and first base, and neither paid attention to the other.
Masters’ glove came under the pop-up, but she couldn’t hang on because Curry wanted the out equally as much, and the girls’ momentum carried them headlong into each other.
The all-out effort didn’t surprise Siloam Springs coach Emily Grace Ruggeri.
“Those girls just want to make a play. They’re willing to do whatever it takes to make the out and support the pitcher,” Ruggeri said.
They hit hard, conking heads and laid prone in front of the Lincoln dugout.
Curry was the first to get up, gingerly rubbing her chin. She absorbed an uppercut and wasn’t wearing her batting helmet, later acknowledging that her head hurt in response to an inquiry from the field umpire while taking the field in the next inning.
“That was a good effort,” the umpire said.
Masters needed a little longer to recuperate from the head butt before she too got to her feet and returned to her station behind the plate to rousing applause from fans of both teams in attendance.
“It was definitely a tough collision. I’m happy everybody was OK and hopefully we’ll have them all healthy next week,” Ruggeri said.
The batter, Lincoln senior Paige Umberson, reached a full-count on the foul ball. She stayed alive because of the collision and drop, then took ball-four, putting a runner on first with two outs in the bottom of the third inning.
Lincoln pulled to within a run, at 3-2, earlier. Ryleigh Landrum led off the inning with a single into shallow right field, then successfully stole second and third with Saylor Stidham batting. Stidham popped up to first and Curry made the first out. Lily Riherd drove in Landrum with a ground ball although Siloam Springs recorded the force out at first.
After the collision, Umberson went to first on a walk, but Lady Panther starter Kennedy Wilkie induced a line drive to shortstop to get out of the inning with the lead intact.
Siloam Springs increased its lead to 4-2 in the top of the fourth, but Lincoln got that run back in the bottom of the fifth. Landrum belted a double that was misjudged in right field. Two batters later, following a strikeout, she moved to third on a passed ball. Riherd replicated her previous RBI feat with another grounder. The threat ended with a groundout to the pitcher.
Siloam Springs added an insurance run in the top of the sixth against a Lincoln reliever set up by Masters’ leadoff triple. The Lady Panthers began the seventh with a leadoff walk, but Stidham got Faith Howie to hit into a double play.
Lincoln went down in order in the bottom of the seventh, giving Siloam Springs a 5-3 win.
Lincoln coach Beau Collins said he planned to let all three pitchers get some work, noting the Lady Wolves got hits at times but couldn’t follow through.
“We just couldn’t get anything behind it,” Collins said.
Lincoln’s field was still in the process of being upgraded the day before and Collins expressed appreciation for the improvements.
“We’ve got a new playing surface and we reset the bases. That was just put down on Wednesday,” Collins said. “It played really nice. I’m really happy with it.”
Ruggeri noted the 3-0 lead Siloam Springs established in its first at-bat turned out to be the difference.
The Lady Panthers pounded out 15 hits. Wilkie and Hilarie Buffington each had three hits and scored a run. Wilkie had an RBI. Morgan Williamson banged out a pair of hits and as many RBIs. Masters had two hits and scored twice while Jaden Farmer also had two hits while Curry had a hit and scored a run. Maggie Torres had a hit with an RBI, and Morgan Teafatiller had a base hit.
“Our pitcher kept us in the game. We were able to hold onto the lead,” Ruggeri said. “I’m proud of our pitcher, our whole infield and our outfield. On Monday we had a game where we had a lead with two outs and we wound up losing so really finishing the game was big for us.”
Wilkie got the win in the circle, allowing six hits, two earned runs, two walks and struck out four in seven innings. Umberson took the loss for Lincoln, while Landrum scored three runs on her three hits.