Bland County Lady Bears nip the GW Maroons 9-8

BEARS NIP MAROONS 9-8
By JERRY SCOTT/Staff

Bland County avenged a loss from earlier in the season as it scored a thrilling 9-8 victory over George Wythe’s Maroons in Bastian on May 6. The win improved the Bears to 10-6 for the season entering the homestretch of the 2008 season.
Bland County reached the Maroons’ Retta Jackson for 10 hits. Bears’ pitcher Danielle May recorded three hits and drove in a run while catcher Laurel Hankins and outfielder Kaitlin Kinser added two hits each. Hankins also drove in two runs.
Jackson struck out six and walked four. Shoddy defense by a George Wythe team that made four errors led to five unearned runs for the Bears.
George Wythe’s Brandi Blessing and Chelsea Hodge had two each of the Maroons’ six hits. The Bears’ May struck out nine and walked 10. She also hit three batters. The Bears committed three errors in the game.
The Bears jumped to a 5-0 lead in the second inning and upped the lead to 6-1 through innings. The Bears sent 10 batters to the plate in the second frame, scoring five times on three hits while taking advantage of two George Wythe errors and two walks.
With two out, Amy Hoosier got the scoring started as she drew a walk and was followed by Megan Atwell with a single. A walk to Cari Neal loaded the bases before May reached on an error to give the Bears a 1-0 edge. Hankins then dropped in a single to score Atwell and Neal before an Adrianna Hutchens hit made it 4-0. Jessica Coburn then reached on first of three errors by Blessing as Hankins scored the fifth run.
May slapped a run-producing hit in the Bland County fourth that made it 6-1, this after a Kinser single and walks to Atwell and Neal loaded the bases. Hankins popped out to left and Hutchens grounded into an inning-ending forceout as Jackson and the Maroons worked themselves out of the inning.
George Wythe closed to within 6-4 in the top of the fifth as Amanda Shelton drove in a run with a flyout and Blessing one with a single. The Maroons loaded the bases with one out on a walk, a hit batter, and a single by Julie Compton before an error and Blessing’s hit trimmed the George Wythe deficit.
The Maroons closed to 6-5 in the sixth and went in front 8-6 in the top of the seventh by scoring three more times. Hodge and Shelton drove in runs in the inning and Blessing scored the first run of the inning on a wild pitch that tied the game 6-6.
Blessing led the inning off with a double and two wild pitches had her sliding across the plate. Amanda Kirk and Jackson drew walks before a Hodge single plated Kirk and Shelton’s groundout plated Jackson. However, May went on to get out of the inning on a strikeout and popup to Hankins that ended the threat.
The Bears pulled out game out in the bottom of the inning by scoring three runs with Kinser driving in the winning run with a single that scored Coburn, who had reached on Blessing’s second error. Blessing’s error allowed both May and Hankins to score after a single by May and Hankins’ double had runners at second and third with no outs. Hutchens popped out before Coburn reached and when Stephanie May also reached on a Blessing error, Kinser was set up for the game-winning hit.
The game actually continued because neither scorer nor the umpires realized that the Bears had gone in front in the bottom of the seventh inning to win the game. A forceout by Hoosier and a groundout by Atwell do not count because the winning run scored on Atwell’s hit.

George Wythe 001 031 3—8 6 4
Bland County 051 000 3—9 10 3
Jackson and Hodge. D. May and Hankins. WP—D. May (3-6). LP—Jackson. HR—none.