Prep Softball: Third Time Is The Charm
Staff Report
ELDORADO - The Harrisburg softball team proved Thursday that the third time is the charm and for head coach Red Stafford, it couldn't have come at a better time.
The Bulldogs, who had lost both meetings with Benton earlier in the season, rallied in the fifth inning and would go on to beat the Rangers 8-6 in the Eldorado Class 2A Regional semifinals Thursday at the EHS Sports Complex.
The Bulldogs got behind the eight ball early, giving up five unearned runs in the first inning to fall behind.
Some wise words from Stafford and assistant coach Jake Stewart changed the Bulldogs' fortunes however in the fifth inning.
"We are extremely young, that's not anything new," Stafford said. "I started four freshmen, three sophomores and two seniors and I think we had a case of the nerves there in the first. We made a couple of errors on some pretty routine plays, but after that settled down and played some pretty good defense the rest of the way."
"Coach Stewart talked to girls and told them to keep pecking away," Stafford added. "We got a run in the second inning and had a big inning in the fifth. We did a good job of bunting the ball and putting pressure on them to make the plays. We had some good team hits tonight."
Harrisburg rallied with two outs in the fifth to take a 6-5 lead when Raelynn Boma smacked a single to left field, scoring Mckenzie Sullivan and Katelyn Bennet, who came in to run for Mckenzie Payne.
After that, Abby Dalton came through with a hit to score Boma and Matty Hawkins' single scored Dalton.
In the seventh inning, with one out, Boma got another base hit and that was followed by Dalton reaching base on a Benton errors. Hawkins then hit a hard line drive to center field that Benton's Katie Sandusky had a beat one, but the ball sailed over her head to make it 8-5.
In the bottom of the frame, Sandusky reached on an error and to clam the nerves, Stafford had another calming session with his bunch.
"I went out there to clam the nerves," Stafford said. "I told them that if she scores, it's no big deal. Lets just make sure we get the out at first base."
Stafford's message worked. Sandusky did score, but the Bulldogs got a ground ball out to Boma at third, followed by a ground out to Dalton at second and a routine ground ball to Whitney Younger at shortstop sealed the deal for Harrisburg.
Hawkins picked up the win in the circle, as she went the distance and faced 31 Rangers. The freshman right hander allowed six runs (one earned) on six hits, while striking out four and walking one.
"Matty held them in check after the first inning and that's all I could ask for," Stafford said. "I'll gladly take two losses to (Benton) in the regular season to win this one. I'm proud of the kids because we could have given up after that first inning."
Dalton finished the game with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate, knocking in a run. While Sullivan, Payne, Boma and Hawkins were all 2-for-4. Hawkins had a game-high three RBI, while Boma had two RBI and Sullivan finished with one.
Whitney Younger, Gillian Jones and Brittany Hutchinson were all 1-for-4, while Jessie Bramlet was 1-for-3.
The Bulldogs will now play the winner of Carmi-White County/Hamilton County in Saturday's championship at 11 a.m.
Harrisburg is playing in its fourth straight regional title game, after taking home the trophy last year.