JARED MACDONALD
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The first meeting between the Mason County and Bracken County softball teams took 10 innings to decide a winner.
On Wednesday, in the 39th District championship game, it was settled in seven.
Kyndal Dotson drew a walk to bring home the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh inning to give the Lady Royals a 5-4 lead, which proved enough to avenge a defeat to the Lady Bears earlier in the season and for their third straight district title.
“Anything like this is always sweeter after we’ve had so many difficulties. They played their heart out today. They played their guts out. I can’t explain how proud of them I am,” said first-year Mason County coach Adam Sapp. “They got down early, they fought back, took the lead and came up with three big outs there in the seventh for us to win this third straight district title.”
Mason County, who went just 4-26 in the regular season, trailed, 4-2, heading into the fifth inning with the top of the order due up.
A walk put Lexie Thompson on first, before she took second base. An error on a ball hit by Lexy Cooper put runners on the corners. After Breanna Hampton, the courtesy runner for Cooper, advanced to second, Emily Huber grounded out to short, scoring Thompson to make it a one-run game. Emma Kidd followed it with a bloop single to right field to tie the game.
“There’s a lot of experience in the top half of that lineup,” said Sapp. “None of the freshmen bat in the top half. It’s all the older girls and they really brought their experience to the top half of that lineup there today.”
Neither team scored until the top of the seventh, when the Lady Royals were able to take advantage of Bracken County mistakes.
Haley White with the backhand at first to end the bottom of the sixth. Mason County 4, Bracken County 4. pic.twitter.com/MVUXzdAvOB
— Jared MacDonald (@JMacDonaldSport) May 23, 2018
Huber led off the inning with a ball hit to center field that Kaitlyn Wills was unable to catch, putting a runner on second.
“My head was a little out because it was an 0-2 count and I love my first pitches. I struggled a little bit and he’s [Sapp] telling us not to swing until we get a strike. I just listened to coach and he always, always helps me there,” said Huber. “I just knew I had to get on.”
Kidd was hit in the next at bat by Bracken County pitcher Georganna Carpenter and Haley White followed with a walk to load the bases.
Kyndal Dotson came up with no outs and worked the count full, before ball four put her on first and drove in the go-ahead run.
Kyndal Dotson walks home to go-ahead run in the top of the seventh. Mason County 5, Bracken County 4 with nobody out and the bases loaded. Olivia Bell coming in to pitch. pic.twitter.com/O10BAID6Q7
— Jared MacDonald (@JMacDonaldSport) May 23, 2018
Carpenter was replaced by Olivia Bell, who picked up the win in the semifinal game in four innings against St. Patrick on Monday, 18-1. She struck out the next two batters before getting Aidan Lee to ground out to Natalie Bell at third.
“I told them at the beginning before we started that if we let them stay in the game, it would be a dog fight. I believe Mason County’s a better team than what their record shows. They’ve played tough competition,” said Bracken County coach Brad Riley. “Kaitlyn Wills 99 out of 100 times will not drop that ball. She dropped it and then a walk hurt us. We worked hard to get out of it. We gave up one run with the bases loaded and no outs and we found a way to get out of it with one run.
“We just didn’t do what we needed to do the last inning and they did,” added Riley. “They caught the balls, made the plays and that’s what you’re supposed to do to win.”
Brad Riley told me Monday that Olivia Bell pitches better when the pressures on. She strikes out two and gets the ground out to third to keep it Mason County 5, Bracken County 4 heading into the bottom of the seventh. pic.twitter.com/cBuLNuOddZ
— Jared MacDonald (@JMacDonaldSport) May 23, 2018
Carpenter allowed eight hits and five walks in six innings while striking out four.
The Lady Royals needed just three outs for their third straight 39th District title, and got it with Cooper in the circle. She got Wills to pop out, Savannah Engnes to ground out to second and Natalie Bell to ground out to short to close out the victory.
Mason County got things going in the top of the first when Thompson reached with a leadoff walk and scored on a double from Cooper for the 1-0 advantage. The Lady Royals made it 2-0 when Hampton scored on an error.
Bracken County came back in the bottom of the frame to take a 3-2 lead. Olivia Bell, Carpenter and Wills each singled to start the game and load the bases with nobody out. Carpenter collected the Lady Bears’ first run by scoring on an error and Kaitlyn Bond singled home two runs to give Bracken County the advantage.
“I think sometimes we play better when we’re down. We were down, we had to fight back and then we were up. We kind of seemed like we were kind of OK with just being up one or two runs instead of making that big push to put it out of reach. We never could do that,” said Riley. “I give credit to Mason County. Their pitcher did a great job keeping us off balance. They made plays they had to make.”
Katelyn Bond singles home Bracken County’s second and third runs in the bottom of the first to take a 3-2 lead over Mason County. pic.twitter.com/u08ptufSWf
— Jared MacDonald (@JMacDonaldSport) May 23, 2018
Cooper allowed just one run after that inning. The junior finished the game allowing three earned runs on 10 hits and one walk. She struck out seven batters.
“I was hoping people could bat out of it hopefully, and we did,” said Cooper.
“You’ve got to keep your head strong and not give up on what you want,” added Cooper.
The Lady Bears extended the lead in the bottom of the third when Engnes scored on a single from Bond, making it 4-2.
Bracken County falls to 14-9 with the loss while Mason County improves to 6-26. Both advanced to the 10th Region Tournament with semifinal wins on Monday and will wait to see who they draw on Friday for the first round of the region tournament. The 10th Region Tournament will be played at Pendleton County.
MASON COUNTY—200-020-1—5-8-3
BRACKEN COUNTY—301-000-0—4-10-5
2B- Cooper 2 (MC), Kidd (MC)
RBI- (MC) Cooper, Dotson, Huber, Kidd. (BC) Bond 3
LOB- Mason County 10, Bracken County 7
WP- Cooper. LP- Carpenter.
Records: Mason County 6-26, Bracken County 14-9
