We’ve all heard the old saying about “it’s better late than never.” Or “nothing like waiting until the last minute.”
Both of those apply to the Cleveland Lady Blue Raiders and their opening game against Hixson at East Hamilton High School Friday morning in the first game of the Choo Choo Classic softball invitational.
Cleveland ended up winning the game by a 5-4 final where the issue was settled via the international tie-breaker after the two teams were tied at 4-4 when the time-limit expired. The Lady Raiders later played two more games where they lost 6-3 to Soddy Daisy before beating Boyd Buchanan 9-2 in their final game of the day.
Cleveland is now 15-12 following Friday’s games.
Veteran coach LeeAnne Shurette was just happy to finally see her team’s bats come to life after doing very little at the start.
“I thought we were going to let that one get away,” she began shortly after Aspen Tipton-Williams scored the winning run on a wild pitch.
“We had a big emotional game with Bradley last night and we just didn’t seem to equal that same intensity. We knew we had to advance the runner in the seventh, but Klair’s diving catch in the top of the inning gave us badly-needed momemtum.
“For whatever reason, we didn’t make any adjustments early and their pitcher threw a great game. It took us a while to get going, but I’m so proud that we found a way to win,” Shurette added.
Hixson coach Rickie Ritchie could only shake his head after his team surrendered a nice lead at the end.
“Just a little oops at the end,” he said when all was said and done.
“I thought Lexi Turner pitched really well. We had plenty of opportunity to put the game away and didn’t. It hurts to lose games like this, but that’s the main reason we want to play in tournaments like this where we will see some better tournaments. My girls are hurting right now, but that just tells me they care. This will only make us better down the line,” he nodded.
The Lady Wildcats did all of their scoring in the second inning when eight batters collected three hits, a walk and a hit batter. Makayla Long had the biggest blow with a three-run triple down the line in right while a double from Brantley Bruggink with two outs plated Long with the last run.
Tipton-Williams had a double leading off the Cleveland third, but that was the only hit they had until the Lady Raiders came to the plate in the bottom of the sixth on the short end of that 4-0 score.
Brylee Cisco reached on a Hixson error before Ariyah Huffman reached on an infield single. Both scored on a two-run double by Landri Nelson. Allison Farnsworth then knotted the score with a two-run homer over the fence in center on the first pitch. The next three hitters were retired in order, setting the tone for the international tie-breaker where the batter who made the last out the previous inning starts out the next on second base.
Chloe Turner was that base runner. She stayed put while Bruggink flied to left for the first out. Connie Schalk then popped up in an attempt to bunt. Winning pitcher Klaire Hall made an incredible diving catch for the second out before firing to second to get the double play.
Tipton-Williams started out on second for the Lady Blue Raiders and advanced to third on a groundout by Sofia Green. Huntlee Dennison then struck out swinging for the second out, but the game ended when Tipton-Williams scored on a wild pitch.
Both teams finished with four hits and nobody had more than one.
Hall was the winning pitcher after allowing four runs on those four hits. She also had four walks, two strikeouts and one hit batter. Turner was the tough-luck loser after allowing five runs on four hits with one walk and eight strikeouts.
HIXSON 040 000 0 – 4 4 1
CLEVELAND 000 004 1 – 5 4 0
Turner and Schalk; Hall and Mason.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)