Resilient Mohawks get win

By ROGER THOMAS, Courier correspondent

June 27, 2009 01:31 am

— MORAVIA — What do you do when you lose a game to one of your rivals the night before? And what if that game was a one-run loss you thought you had put away?
And what if that game was a 14-inning marathon that ended late in the evening?
You bounce back, play as hard as you can and if enough things go your way — you win.
That’s exactly what the Moravia Mohawks did in Bluegrass Conference softball action Friday night. Moravia defeated Twin Cedars 8-2 to move its conference record to 6-5.
The visiting Sabers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Shelsea Riggen’s triple drove in the game’s first run.
The visitors were blanked in the second but the first six Moravia hitters went down in order, so the score remained 1-0 after two innings.
The visitors threatened to score and possibly break the game open in the top of the third. With one out and runners on first and third, designated hitter Amanda Bacus lined a shot just inside the bag at third. Moravia third baseman, Teagan Gay, flagged it down and tagged the runner off third for the inning-ending double play.
“Last night drained us physically and emotinally and we started a little slow. That play woke us up and the bats got going,” said Mohawk coach Jerod Power.
The home team put a three-spot on the board in the bottom of the third. Annie Moore, who pitched all 14 innings and recorded 26 strikeouts in the 9-8 loss the night before, led off the inning with a single. The next two hitters went down, but Kelsey Flattery singled for an RBI, and after Paige Buckallew singled, Mallory Wilson had a two-RBI double to give Moravia a 3-1 lead that would stand up.
“I’m just coming back from an injury and I didn’t play a full game last night, so I was really ready to go,” commented Wilson.
Twin Cedars coach, Jim Dunkin talked about big innings and his team.
“If you could write a book about our summer, you’d have to concentrate on how big innings have hurt us this season. We can play really sound ball for five or six innings, but a couple of plays we don’t make seem to get us.”
Moravia proved Dunkin correct as they followed up their three-run third with a four-run fourth.
Winning pitcher Xaviera Ballanger, started the fourth with a single. Casey Clemens followed with a walk and one out later, Gay lined a single to center to drive in Ballanger. Clemens scored the first of three unearned runs on the same play. The catcher dropped the ball on the play at home. Cheyenne Rowley’s grounder to second was misplayed and another run scored. The fourth run scored on an RBI ground out by Flattery.
Twin Cedars got one back in the fifth. Ashley Hall doubled and Lindsay Hoehns singled her in.
Moravia matched the Twin Cedars run with one in the bottom of the inning. Wilson led off the inning with a walk and later scored on a wild pitch for the Mohawks’ eighth run.
Ballanger retired the visiting Sabers in order in the sixth and seventh to pick up the complete game victory.
“I’m used to pitching seven innings and I’ve done it quite a bit this summer,” said Ballanger.
“We played well defensively to back Xaviera up tonight,” said Power.
The Mohawks don’t get any rest, as Moravia will be part of the Clarke tournament in Osceola today, with games at 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.
Moravia 8, Twin Cedars 2
T.C. 100 010 0 — 2 4 3
Mor 003 410 x — 8 8 1
Twin Cedars battery — Maddison Goemaat (L) (3 1/3IP, 6H, 6R, 4ER, 2K, 1BB), Lindsay Hoehns (2 2/3IP, 2H, 2R, 1ER, 1K, 1BB), Brooke Dunkin catching.
2B — Hall.
3B — Riggen.
Hits — Hoehns 1-for-3, Riggen 1-for-2, Tasha Cannon 1-for-3, Hall 1-for-3.
RBI — Riggen, Hoehns. Runs — Dunkin, Hall.
Moravia battery — Ballanger (W) (7IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 4K, 2BB), Athena Parlier catching.
2B — Wilson.
Hits — Flattery 1-for-4, Buckallew 2-for-3, Wilson 1-for-2, Ballanger 1-for-3, Clemens 1-for-2, Moore 1-for-3, Gay 1-for-3.
RBI — Flattery 2, Wilson 2, Gay. Runs — Flattery, Buckallew, Wilson, Ballanger, Clemens, Moore, Gay, Rowley.