Kincer Pitches, Hits GPS Past Baylor, 2-1, In Eight

There are a few things in this world you can be sure of, such as death, taxes and a battle to the wire when Baylor and GPS compete on the athletic field.

That was surely the case at GPS Tuesday afternoon where the Bruisers improved to 11-6 overall with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the Lady Red Raiders in a game that close from the first pitch to the last.

Tuesday's win came on the heels of a winning performance in the Gibbs Tournament over the weekend.

Kincer's home run tied the game in Saturday's championship while Karly Benefield had the game-winning RBI in the 7-6 win over Cookeville following wins over Grace Christian, Maryville and Midway on Saturday.

If you had to single out one player as the one who made the most difference for the winning GPS squad on Tuesday in one of the most important games of the season so far, it would have to be sophomore pitcher Hannah Kincer.

She was dominant in the circle as she limited the hard-hitting Lady Red Raiders to just two hits while allowing one run that was unearned.  She also struck out eight while walking two.

Offensively, she was the only Bruiser with two hits and she scored both runs, the game winner with two outs in the eighth. 

Kincer, who had singled and scored the first run in the fourth following a single by Ariana Whatley, got the winning rally started in the final inning with a two-out double to the gap in right-center.  Freshman Sydney White, who had been hitless in her first three at-bats, made the fourth time the charm as she popped a single into short left as Kincer raced home with the winning run.

"This is such a young team with mostly freshmen and sophomores and we've still got a lot of growing up to do, but they're starting to really get it," said winning coach Susan Crownover shortly after the game ended.

"We made some mistakes defensively, but Hannah was able to pitch through them.  And Baylor hit some ropes at us, but we made some key plays too.  I'm really proud of Hannah as she scored both of our runs and made a bunch of really big pitches, but we still have to play at Baylor and who knows home many more times we'll see them," the veteran coach added.

Centerfielder A.J. Johnson, who had both of Baylor's hits, led off the fourth with a single and promptly stole second before scoring on a GPS infield boot.

Baylor left the bases loaded in that inning as Kincer induced Trinity Liner into a grounder to short for the third out.

The Bruisers came right back in the bottom of the fourth with a run to tie as Kincer scored on Whatley's single.

That's the way it stayed until Kincer started the game-winning rally in the eighth.

Baylor coach Kelli Smith felt like her team just failed to come through at the plate in a close game where every hit and run counted.

"We have to hit the ball and we didn't do that today," she said after her team's record dropped to 11-4.

"We weren't aggressive at all at the plate and we looked at way too many pitches.  Kayla Hughes pitched a great game and our defense was outstanding, but we just didn't pose any challenge at all offensively and I'm really disappointed with our approach at the plate," she added.

Catcher Haley Smith had the other hit for GPS, a leadoff single in the fourth.

BAYLOR  000 100 00 -- 1 2 0

GPS  000 100 01 -- 2 5 3

Hughes and Rich; Kincer and Smith.

(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)