By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
In the world of high school sports, it doesn’t always have to be about the wins and losses. Sometimes it can just be about the “experience”. For the Manchester lady Greyhounds, one of those experiences came last weekend as they boarded Connie McDonald’s school bus on Thursday morning and after a stop at the popular Buc-cee’s in Kentucky found their way back to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. For the second consecutive spring, the Lady Hounds were in the Volunteer State to be part of the Cal Ripken Experience, playing a pair of varsity games on the Tennessee turf.
After going 3-0 last year, the Lady Hounds split their two games in Tennessee this time, falling to Division II Girard 13-6 on Friday and them bouncing back on Saturday morning to post a 13-10 come-from-behind win over Thornton Academy, a team from the state of Maine. Perhaps more importantly, between those two games, the Lady Hounds and their traveling contingent spent time bonding and experiencing some of the attractions that Pigeon Forge has to offer.
In the Friday morning contest with the Girard Lady Indians, out of Trumbull County, Ohio, the Lady Hounds fell into an early hole as the Lady Indians got to Manchester starter Rylie Young for six runs, all unearned, in the bottom of the second. The Hounds began to chip away at that deficit in their half of the third, scoring three times, a two-bagger by Young driving home two and Young racing home on an Emilee Applegate base hit.
Applegate came on in relief for the Lady Hounds in the fourth and the Lady Indians greeted her with another six-spot but again only two of those were of the earned variety. Manchester plated one in the top of the fifth when Jenna Campbell scored on a passed ball but Girard matched that with one in the bottom of the fifth to make it 13-4.
In the top of the seventh, the Lady Hounds managed to put two more on the board, with Campbell coming home on a Young base hit and Young coming home when Maggie Roberts grounded into a fielder’s choice, but a ground out to fist off the bat of Harley Rideout ended the game and handed the Lady Hounds their first loss of the 2023 season.
In the loss, Manchester got big days from the 1-2 hitters in their lineup as Campbell went 2 for 4 and scored three times while Young was 3 for 4 and drove home three.
After an evening in Pigeon Forge, the Lady Hounds were back in action on Saturday morning facing the Thornton Academy Lady Trojans and again the blue and gold dug an early hole. After scoring twice in the top of the first, the Lady Hounds saw Thornton answer with another six-run inning, only three earned, off Manchester starter Emilee Applegate.
This time, though, the Lady Hounds erased the deficit in quick fashion with four runs in the top of the second, the first three coming on a bases-clearing double by Emilee Applegate, who later scored on a Maggie Roberts ground out to tie the score at 6.
Thornton regained the advantage when they tallied a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth and the Lady Hounds got one of those back in the top of the sixth on a run-scoring double by Kameyl Carter.
Trailing 8-7 as they came to bat in the top of the seventh, the Lady Hounds went to work. Chloe Freeman led off with a triple to right, followed by a bunt single by Ashleigh Dunn with Freeman holding at third. Jaylise Applegate reached on an error that eventually allowed both runners to score and give the Lady Hounds the lead. Applegate raced home on a double by Campbell who scored on a Young ground out to make it 11-8 Manchester.
Later in the frame, a base hit by Harley Rideout drove home the final two runs of the inning, giving the Lady Hounds a five-run advantage headed to the bottom of the seventh. The Lady Trojans scored twice but went own when Freeman grabbed a pop fly for the third and final out in the 13-10 Manchester victory.
The Lady Hounds had 12 hits in their Saturday win with Campbell again leading the way as the Manchester shortstop went 3 for 4 and scored four runs. Carter also went 3 for 4 with Young getting the win in the center circle.
“We played two extremely good teams, Girard HS from Ohio and Thornton Academy from Maine, both D2 schools,” said Mancehster head coach Matthias Applegate. “We made a couple costly mistakes, which you cannot do against a team of that caliber, and we couldn’t catch back up. Lost that game 13-6. Game 2 we went down early but kept battling to keep it close. We were down 8-7 going into the last inning, but the bats came alive and we won 13-10.”
“Our JV played Central Hardin JV and Thornton Academy JV. Game 1 we lost 8-2 and Game 2 we won 13-7. While in Tennessee we enjoyed the indoor waterpark at Wilderness at the Smokies, went zip lining and conquered the obstacle course at the Lumberjack Adventure Park, and attended the Pirates Voyage Dinner and Show to name a few activities we tackled.”
Now back in the familiar confines of the Buckeye State, the Lady Hounds sport a 9-1 record, 6-0 in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference. They were back in action on Monday with a non-conference trip to Felicity then will be back in SHAC play on Thursday, April 20 with a trip to Fayetteville. On Friday, the Manchester girls will host Robertson County (Ky) inn another non-conference affair.
Manchester
240 001 6 —13
Thornton Academy
600 200 2 —10
Manchester Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Campbell 4-4-3-1, Young 4-1-1-1, E. Applegate 4-2-1-3, Carter 4-1-3-1, Roberts 4-1-0-2, Rideout 4-0-1-2, Freeman 4-1-1-1, Dunn 3-1-1-0, J. Applegate 4-2-1-0, Team 35-13-12-11.
Extra-Base Hits: E. Applegate 2B, Carter 2B, Campbell 2B, Freeman 3B
Thornton Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Greenlaw 4-1-2-2, Barnes 2-1-0-0, Tracy 1-1-1-1, Coleman 4-2-1-0, Dow 6-1-0-1, DesRoberts 4-1-1-, Bogardus 4-2-1-1, Gonneville 4-0-1-0, Maloy 2-0-1-1, Miner 1-0-0-0, Datillo 2-1-1-0, Lamson 1-0-0-0, Team 35-10-9-7.
Extra-Base Hits: Tracy 2B, Greenlaw 2B, DesRoberts 3B
Manchester Pitching:
E. Applegate 1 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 3 ER, 1 K
Young (W) 6 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K
Thornton Pitching:
Bogardus 5 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 4 K
Tracy 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER
Barnes (L) 1 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB