GPS pitcher Hannah Kincer tossed six-innings inside the circle and then helped herself at the plate, as well. Kincer was one of three Bruisers with three hits, including a three-run blast in a sixth inning surge. The sophomore ended the game with five RBIs as GPS dispatched Pope John Paul II to the loser's bracket with a 10-4 win.
photo by Dennis Norwood
MURFREESBORO -- Ensworth forfeited to GPS two weekends ago in the quarterfinal round of the D-II state softball tournament, so the Bruisers had gone two weeks between games.
They were able to handle the Pope John Paul II Lady Knights without much problem here at the Starplex Field No. 3 Tuesday evening.
Improving to 26-11 with Tuesday's 10-4 win, the Bruisers will have Wednesday off before facing the winner of the Baylor-St. Benedict game, which is set for Wednesday at 10 a.m. local time.
GPS may have the youngest team for any classification, but they continue to improve with each passing game.
The Bruisers jumped out front with three runs in the first inning before adding two in the fifth and five in the sixth.
The Lady Knights avoided losing by the 10-run rule as they rallied to score three in the bottom of sixth, but it wasn't nearly enough to overcame that early deficit.
Sophomore Hannah Kincer was the winning pitcher as she went six innings before being relieved by Macie Stanfield in the seventh.
Kincer allowed all four runs, but only gave up three hits. She also had five walks and one strikeout.
She also helped herself at the plate as she was one of three Bruisers to finish the game with three hits. Her biggest blow was a home run in the sixth that drove in three runs as she finished with five RBIs.
Haley Smith and Lilly Berger also had three hits with Smith scoring three times and Berger twice.
Ariana Whatley also had two hits as GPS finished the game with 15 hits.
The Lady Knights only had three hits, including a double by Alley McDonald in the first while Savannah Lewis and Anna Wantz had sixth-inning singles. Wantz had the big blow in the sixth as her single drove in all three runs.
Unfortunately, the defense came up short for Pope John Paul as the Lady Knights committed five errors.
"We made a few more errors than we should have, but Anna (Wantz) pitched better than she did in Chattanooga," said Lady Knights coach Jody Brothers after his team had dropped to 24-15-1 with the loss.
"Errors against a quality team like GPS will kill you, but the good news is that we didn't quit. We won't talk much about this one as we'll just move on, but I'm glad to have that one out of the way," Brothers added.
GPS coach Susan Crownover is also happy to get the first game out of the way with a win. Now she has to figure a way to entertain her kids on Wednesday with no game to play.
"We'll probably go somewhere and practice a little bit, but we'll find something to do if we have to go to a movie or something like that. I promise you that we'll have a good time wherever we go," Crownover laughed following Tuesday's game.
"They could have blown us out early in that first inning, but defense saved the day for us," she said, knowing that a double play where a runner was thrown out at home saved the day in the early going.
"We may have been a little rusty with the long break as our timing was off, but we played well enough to win. And I was proud of Hannah Kincer, who hadn't pitched in a while and had to fight through some adversity," Crownover added.
The Bruisers will face the Baylor-St. Benedict winner on Thursday at 11:30 (CST).
GPS 300 025 0 -- 10 15 1
POPE JOHN PAUL II 100 003 0 -- 4 3 5
Kincer, Stanfield (7) and Smith; Wantz and Lewis.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)
GPS' Macie Stanfield makes contact with a pitch to help the Bruisers to a 10-4 win over the Knights in a first-round Division II-AA game at the Starplex softball complex in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
photo by Dennis Norwood