Peebles sophomore dominant in shutout performance –
Story and photos by Mark Carpenter –
In one of the most dominating pitching performances of the spring, Peebles sophomore Madison Pierce was on top of her game last Saturday as the Lady Indians traveled to Eastern Brown looking to stay unbeaten in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference.
Pierce was in control from the start, striking out 16 Lady Warriors, including the first eight hitters she faced, as the Peebles girls made it 3-0 in the SHAC with a 4-0 victory.
“Madison really threw the ball well today,” said Peebles head coach Doug McFarland. “She hit her spots and just did a great job on the mound all afternoon.”
With Pierce filling the Eastern side of the scorebook with the letter “K”, the Lady Indians got her all the offense she needed when they scored a run in the top of the first inning, and fittingly it was the sophomore hurler who crossed the plate. Pierce led off the game with a base hit, moved to second on an error, and to third on a single by Jerilin Toller. Peebles then took a 1-0 lead when Kylie Sims singled off of Eastern starter Emily Bradford to drive Pierce home.
The Lady Indians threatened again in the top of the second when Johna Dunigan walked and Alisan Behr singled with two outs, but the threat ended when Dunigan was thrown out attempting to steal third by Eastern catcher Jayden Koehler.
Peebles added one to the lead in the top of the fourth. With one out, Matti Nichols and Hope Brown reached on back to back Eastern errors and Dunigan walked again to load the bases. A two-out base on balls to Pierce forced Nichols home with the second run for the Lady Indians.
The Lady Warriors got their first base runner in their half of the fourth when Maggie Dorsey drew the only walk that Pierce surrendered, but Dorsey was quickly erased on a double play to end the frame.
Peebles tacked on two important insurance runs in the top of the fifth to grab a 4-0 advantage. Toller led off the inning with a base hit and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Toller came home on a base hit by Josey Myers and Myers later crossed the dish on a single by Brown.
The home team got their first hit off of Pierce in the bottom half of the fifth when Allison Malott led off with a single, but Pierce struck out the next three hitters, no damage done. The Lady Warriors threatened again in the bottom of the sixth with a leadoff single by Payton Dorsey and a one-out double by Andrea Edmisten, but again Pierce was clutch in a tough situation, striking out the next two hitters to leave the two runners stranded.
Peebles got two runners on in the top of the seventh, but didn’t score, setting up the final at-bat for the Lady Warriors and the home team filled the bags with no outs, getting two singles and a Peebles error, but Pierce again reached back for a little extra. She struck out the next two hitters and then closed out her shutout by getting Bradford to pop out to the mound as the Lady Indians could celebrate their third win in four outings on the spring.
On a beautiful sunny afternoon, Pierce got the win with her outstanding performance, giving up five hits, and Bradford took the loss for the Lady Warriors, giving up three earned runs in seven innings. At the plate, the victorious Lady Indians got a pair of hits from Jerilin Toller and a pair of RBI’s from Hope Brown.
Peebles
100 120 0 –4
Eastern Brown
000 000 0 – 0
Peebles Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Pierce 2-1-1-0, Reed 4-0-0-0, Toller 4-1-2-0, Sims 3-0-1-1, Myers 4-1-1-1, Nichols 4-1-0-0, Brown 4-0-1-2, Dunigan 1-0-0-0, Behr 3-0-1-0, Team 29-4-7-4.
E. Brown Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Edmisten 3-0-1-0, M. Dorsey 1-0-0-0, Tomlin 1-0-0-0, Koewler 3-0-0-0, Malott 3-0-2-0, Newman 3-0-1-0, Broughton 3-0-0-0, Koehler 1-0-0-0, Murphy 2-0-0-0, P. Dorsey 3-0-1-0, Bradford 3-0-0-0, Team 26-0-5-0.
Extra-Base Hits: Edmisten 2B
Peebles Pitching: Pierce (W) 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 16 K
E. Brown Pitching: Bradford (L) 7 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 5 K
