Lady Hornets hold off Rogers comeback to make early outburst hold up
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because the look back at each day in Bryant athletic history has been so favorably received during the time when there was no sports during the COVID-19 shutdown, BryantDaily.com will continue posting past stories of Bryant athletics either posted on BryantDaily.com (from 2009 to the present) or published in the Bryant Times (from 1998 to 2008).
Photos courtesy of Jon Staton
Seven runs were enough for the Bryant Lady Hornets but just barely so. On Saturday afternoon, the Lady Hornets built a 7-1 lead on the Rogers Lady Mounties but had to sweat it out a bit at the end. Rogers rallied to cut the lead to one before Bryant held on for the 7-6 victory, its first win of the young season.
Kayla Jolley (Photo courtesy of Jon Staton)
“It’s what we coaches call ugly wins but I would rather be 1-1 than 0-2 at this point,” declared Lady Hornets coach Debbie Clark. “There’s a lot we still need to work on.
“It’s not over ‘til it’s over,” she added. “I don’t know who the fat lady was here. I didn’t hear her singing. I was waiting. ‘Come on, hurry, sing. This has got to get over now.’ It was frustrating.”
Kaley Coppock bashed a solo homer, Tori Hernandez cracked a three-run double and Bre Sanders added two hits against Rogers’ hard-throwing starter Maddie Prough. Julie Ward and Katy Stillman added run-scoring singles as the Lady Hornets put up their seven runs over the first three innings.
They had the formula for victory.
“A big inning; answer back; score first; extend the lead; and score with two outs,” Clark listed off. “And we did that. If you do three out of five, you’re supposed to win. And we did it and we won but it was close and it shouldn’t be that close.”
Rogers plated two runs in the top of the sixth and three in the seventh. The Lady Mounties had the potential tying run on base when the final out was recorded.
The Bryant bats were quieted by Rogers reliever Haylee Zimmerman, who came in with two out in the bottom of the third and retired all 10 batters she faced to give her team the chance to rally.
“(Zimmerman) was not throwing the same speed, did not have the same movement,” Clark mentioned, comparing the two Rogers pitchers. “The girls came over and said that she doesn’t throw as hard as (assistant) Coach (Nathan) Castaldi in practice. That’s what I don’t like. We didn’t make an adjustment. We didn’t get a hit against her. And then look what happened. We let down in the field.”
The coach was referring to a couple of physical errors and a mental miscue that Rogers took advantage of in the final two frames.
“I like these girls, this team, but we’ve got to take care of business out here,” Clark asserted.
Coppock’s blast to straightaway center with two out in the bottom of the first produced the game’s first run. The shot came just after Bryant second baseman Kayla McKissock made a sparkling defensive play in the top of the inning.
In the top of the second, the Lady Hornets’ starting hurler Kayla Jolley made it five outs in a row before issuing a walk on a 3-2 pitch to Rogers’ Ryan Vaughn. Emily Kinney followed with the Lady Mounties’ first hit, a single to right. Jordan Williams charged the ball, got it on one hop and fired into second in time to nail Vaughn who had rounded second too far, allowing Sanders to tag her out to end the inning.
Revved up by that play, the Lady Hornets tacked on two runs in the home half with Jolley getting it started with a single up the middle. Williams came up to sacrifice but got a bunt down that went for a hit when there was no one covering first for Rogers.
That opened the gate. Ward got a second chance when her foul pop was dropped by Kinney, the Lady Mounties’ catcher. On the very next pitch, an 0-2 delivery, Ward laced a single to left to chase home courtesy runner Miranda Mayfield to make it 2-0.
Jordan Williams (Photo courtesy of Jon Staton)
Sanders’ first hit, a bloop beyond third loaded the bases and, with two down, Stillman came through with a solid single to left on a 3-2 pitch to make it 3-0.
Rogers got on the board in the top of the third. Taylor Erickson singled and took second on a sacrifice by Faith Edwards. She held as Jennifer Gonzalez beat out a slow roller to short but moved to third when Kylan Hensley bounced into a force at second. On the next pitch, Chandler Little singled to center to bring in the run.
Zimmerman made a bid to get a second run home when she hit one sharply off of Jolley’s glove but McKissock made a diving stop at the second-base bag and tagged it for the third out on the force.
An error by the Lady Mounties allowed Sydney Gogus to reach base to start the home third. An out later, Williams drew a four-pitch walk. With two down, Sanders came through in the clutch. Her sharp single to left chased in pinch-runner Abby Staton.
McKissock drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases and, on an 0-1 pitch, Hernandez plugged the gap in right center to clear them, making it 7-1.
That’s when Zimmerman took over in the pitcher’s circle and handcuffed the Lady Hornets the rest of the way on 10 consecutive infield grounders.
Williams took over pitching for the Lady Hornets and worked around a one-out double to Ashlyn Lang in the top of the fourth then retiring the side in the fifth.
The sixth started with Little getting plunked by a pitch. Zimmerman smacked a liner up the middle that Williams got a glove on. It ricocheted to Sanders who tossed to McKissock for a force. But Prough singled and Lang reached on an error to set the table for Kinney who belted a double to center.
That made it 7-3 with runners at second and third and one out. Williams got Erickson to hit a two-hopper to Sanders who threw home to Ward in time to get Lang. Edwards then flew out to left to end the inning and the Lady Hornets’ lead still seemed comfortable.
Gonzalez opened the top of the seventh with a single, advanced to second on a tap back to the pitcher by Hensley and third on a wild pitch. She scored when Little reached on an error and, a pitch later, Zimmerman blasted a two-run homer to left to make it 7-6.
But, after a visit from pitching coach DeAnna Ward, Williams got Prough to ground out to Stillman at third. She walked Lang but got the final out when King popped to Sanders at short.
The Lady Hornets don’t return to action until March 18 when they open South Conference play at Benton.
Bryant head coach Debbie Clark and assistant Nathan Castaldi. (Photo courtesy of Jon Staton)
