GPS jumped out to an early lead Thursday afternoon and held off a late charge by St. Benedict to advance to the State Championship Softball game.The Bruisers scored in the 1st inning when Kamri Chester singled up the middle. Tory Lewis, who had singled to lead off the game, scored from second on Kamri's hit.
GPS added 3 more runs in the third - the first 2 coming on a deep home run to center field by senior Kamri Chester. Jackie Baird walked following Chester's homer. Amy Campbell then hit one in the gap at left-center, scoring Katie Dorris who was running in relief of Baird. That extended the GPS lead to 4-0 after 3 and a half innings.
In the bottom of the 3rd, senior pitcher Megan Wagner struck out the side to keep the Bruiser lead at 4 runs.
In the 4th, Megan Givens bunted safely to lead off. Tory Lewis' sacrifice bunt then moved Givens to second. Whitney Hammond then beat out a ground ball to move Givens to third and give GPS runners on the corners. With Jessica Phillips at the plate, GPS pulled a double steal, with Givens scoring after an errant attempt to throw Hammond out at second. Following the error, Hammond was caught between 2nd and 3rd, but was safe at third after the St. Benedict third baseman was called for interference. Phillips then knocked one off the wall in left field, scoring Hammond and stretching the Bruiser lead to 6-0.
In the bottom of the 4th, St. Benedict led off with a single, but followed it with a ground out and two fly balls to end the inning.
The Bruisers would come up empty in the 5th, and gave up a run in the bottom half on a St. Benedict double to right-center with one runner on base.
Givens would again lead off in the 6th, this time reaching first after being hit by a pitch. Lewis moved her to 2nd again with another sacrifice bunt. Hammond then struck out, but Phillips singled up the middle to score Givens and increase the lead to 7-1.
St. Benedict got the bats going in the 6th, starting with back to back singles, followed by a two-run triple to right field. That made the Bruiser lead 7-3. The next batter grounded out, but scored the runner, further whittling away at the GPS lead. The next batter popped out to first, but St. Benedict bounced back with another single. GPS pitcher Megan Wagner went to work on the next batter, getting her 5th strikeout of the day, and rescuing the Bruisers from a rough inning with the score now 7-4.
In the 7th and final inning, GPS got nothing more than a walk by CC Gordon. That left one final opportunity for St. Benedict. The lead off batter hit a hard grounder down the third baseline. Senior Amy Campbell, snagged the ball and gunned the runner down for the first out. On the very next pitch, the St. Benedict batter hit a grounder to the shortstop Lewis, who fielded it cleanly and threw the runner out at first for out number 2. Two pitches later, St. Benedict hit a soft line drive that Lewis easily snagged, ending the game and sending GPS to the Finals once again.
The Bruisers will look to defend their State Title from one year ago on Friday night when they face the winner of tonight's losers bracket game. If GPS were to lose Friday night, they would get one more chance to claim the title on Saturday in the double-elimination format.
No comments:
Post a Comment