Walk-off double erased valiant effort by Lady Cyclones
Published 8:13 am Monday, April 22, 2019
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Elizabethton’s Hannah Edwards takes a yeoman’s swing at a pitch against Sullivan East.
Lady Cyclone Maddie O’Quinn lays down the perfect sacrifice bunt to advance runners.
Elizabethton’s Haley Fair and Kira Dillard celebrate Kaylen Shell’s base-clearing triple.
Autumn Hensley of Elizabethton does a little two-step into the waiting arms of teammates after slugging a two-run home run in the top of the sixth inning.
Elizabethton shortstop Madisun Pritchard awaits the ball as an East runner makes it safely to second base.
BY CARTER EVERETT
STAR CORRESPONDENT
BLUFF CITY—While most of the Elizabethton Lady Cyclones couldn’t name one of Elvis Pressley’s standout hits from his career, the one that pops to mind after Elizabethton’s electric performance at Sullivan East on Lady Patriot Diamond, it would have to be Heartbreak Hotel.
That was where the Lady Cyclones probably felt like moving into after they dropped a tension-filled Three Rivers Conference showdown with the Lady Patriots 8-7 on a walk-off double in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The game featured a pitching showdown between Kylee Wolfe of East and Hannah Edwards of Elizabethton.
After East scored the first run in the bottom of the first inning, the Lady Cyclones responded to even the game at 1-1 in the top of the second inning.
Two consecutive errors on balls hit by Maggie Johnson and Autumn Hensley set Elizabethton up in business.
Haley Fair sacrificed the runners up a base. After Johnson was erased at home, Hensley worked around to score on a single by Maddie O’Quinn.
East regained the lead in the bottom of the third to go up 2-1.
The Lady Cyclones pulled even in the top of the fourth inning when Kaylen Shell doubled, Johnson singled, and Hensley roped a double to center scoring Shell making it a 2-2 game.
East continued to answer each response Elizabethton had with one of their own as the Lady Patriots surged to the lead once again in the bottom of the inning 3-2 thanks to an RBI by Cassy Littleford.
Elizabethton then went on a tear in the top of the sixth to plate five runs to take a 7-3 advantage.
Edwards led off with a single before the Lady Patriots retired two straight Lady Cyclone batters.
That did little to slow Elizabethton down as Kira Dillard walked as did Johnson to load the bags with ‘Betsy runners.
Kaylen Shell followed by blasting a base-clearing triple to make it a 5-3 contest but the Lady Cyclones still weren’t done.
Hensley promptly stepped to the plate and delivered a towering two-run home run that gave her team a four-run edge.
As they did earlier in the game, East quickly responded by tacking on three runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth inning to make it a slim one-run advantage for Elizabethton, 7-6.
After holding the Lady Cyclones scoreless in the top of the seventh, East put the game to bed in the bottom of the inning when Cayden Bawgus connected on the walk-off double with two outs to take the 8-7 win.
Lady Cyclone head coach Ken Hardin was proud of the way his team battled.
“The girls performed great,” said Hardin. “East beat us bad last time and tonight we played with so much heart.
Hardin was asked what the difference between the two contests was.
“The thing about the last game is we made mistakes and this game is I don’t think that we had an error,” Hardin stated. “We had great at-bats tonight. We took a lot of pitches tonight and last time we were swinging at everything.
“We talked about that before we went out. You can’t say enough about how Hannah Edwards threw the ball.”
With the district tournaments approaching, the Lady Cyclones are beginning to hit their stride at the right time.
