By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
A showdown in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference came to Peebles High School on the morning of April 18 as the Lady Indians hosted the Manchester Lady Greyhounds in a contest between two of the top squads in the small school division. The two teams came in going in opposite directions with the Lady Hounds dropping four of their previous five decisions while the Lady Indians were riding a six-game winning streak.
The game turned out to be a Saturday morning gem, with outstanding performing by the two starting pitchers-Manchester’s Bayleigh Spires and Peebles’ Kaelyn Musser. Through four innings, the Lady Hounds held a 2-0 advantage, only to see the home team score single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh frames, the final run being a walk off winner on a wild pitch as Coach Amanda Myers’s Peebles nine pulled out an exciting 3-2 victory.
Manchester got on the board first in the top half of the second when Peyton Hayslip and Kloey Carter collected one-out singles and Hayslip came home on an RBI ground out off the bat of Jadelynn Conley. In the top of the third, the Lady Hounds added on Hayven Newland led off the inning with a base hit to left and moved to second on a ground out by Addilyn Hunter. Elliana Applegate followed with a double to right, scoring Newland and giving the visitors a two-run advantage.
Meanwhile, Spire breezed through four innings in the center circle, allowing the Lady Indians just three hits and no runs. While the Manchester bats went silent, the Peebles offense began to come from behind, one run at a time. In the bottom of the fifth after the first two batters were retired, freshman Josie McGhee reached safely on an error, followed by a base hit to center by Jerzi Tong. A base hit by Kendall Myers brought McGhee racing across with the first run of the day for the Lady Indians.
Peebles evened the score off of Spires in the bottom of the sixth, Kendall Young reached on an error and was sacrificed ahead one base on an Amryn Carroll bunt. After a walk to Riley Byers, Young came home on a perfectly executed safety squeeze from Myers, tying the fame at 2 as the seventh inning arrived.
Musser retired the Lady Hounds in order in the top of the seventh, setting the stage for her team’s heroics in the bottom half. With Applegate on in relief for the visitors, McGhee led off with a five-pitch walk and moved all the way to third when Tong laced a base hit just inside the third base line. With Myers at the plate and a 1-1 count, the next Applegate delivery went wild and McGhee raced home, sliding headfirst into home with the winning run, just ahead of the downpour that hit the area about five minutes later.
Going all seven innings, Musser was the winning pitcher, allowing just the two runs and five hits and not issuing a walk. The Peebles offense collected six hits, two of those from second baseman Jerzi Tong.
For Manchester, Spires tossed six brilliant frames, allowing five hits ans nary an earned run. Applegate took the loss in relief, giving up the game-winner in the bottom of the seventh. The Lady Hounds’ usually potent offense managed just five hits off the southpaw deliveries of Peebles’ Musser.
The win improved the Lady Indians to a sparkling 10-1 on the season, 6-1 in conference play, leaving them with a one-game lead over second place Fairfield. The Lady Hounds dropped to 8-6 overall, 4-3 in SHAC action, still very much in contention in the small school division and get a rematch with Peebles on May 5 on their home field.
Manchester
011 000 0 —2
Peebles
000 011 1 —3
Manchester Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): Hunter 3-0-0-0, Applegate 3-0-1-1, McClanahan 3-0-0-0, Brown 3-0-0-0, Hayslip 3-1-1-0, Carter 3-0-1-0, Conley 3-0-0-1, King 2-0-1-0, Newland 2-1-1-0, Spires 0-0-0-0, Team 25-2-5-2.
Extra-Base Hits: Applegate 2B
Peebles Hitting (AB-R-H-RBI): McGhee 3-2-0-0, Tong 4-0-2-0, Kendall Myers 2-0-1-1, Musser 3-0-1-0, Young 3-1-1-0, Carroll 1-0-0-0, Byers 2-0-1-0, Katie Myers 2-0-0-1, Davis 3-0-0-0, Team 23-3-6-2.
Manchester Pitching:
Spires 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, o ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Applegate (L) 0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER,1 BB
Peebles Pitching:
Musser (W) 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 K
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