SOFTBALL: Verdigris rallies past Skiatook to preserve district lead
· Yahoo Sports
Verdigris entered the weekend with breathing room atop the District 4A-7 standings.
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By Monday night, the Lady Cardinals were fighting just to stay there.
Three days after a 5-0 loss to Rogers County rival Oologah sliced Verdigris’ two-game district advantage in half, Skiatook threatened to erase it altogether by jumping ahead 3-0 in the first inning.
A loss would have dropped the Lady Cardinals into a three-way tie with the Lady Mustangs and Grove atop the standings.
Instead, Verdigris responded.
Sydney Lewis delivered a bases-clearing triple to complete a 4-run comeback in the fourth inning, and Rilyn Stringfellow recovered from a shaky start to strike out 14 as the Lady Cardinals escaped with a 6-4 District 4A-7 road victory Monday.
After allowing 3 runs without surrendering a hit in the opening inning, Stringfellow dominated the rest of the way.
The senior allowed only 1 hit over 7 innings, walked 4 and retired 14 on strikes. The Lady Bulldogs' only hit, Bailey Hartman’s solo home run in the sixth, accounted for their only run after the first inning.
Verdigris [15-2, 9-1 District 4A-7] also played error-free defense behind Stringfellow.
It was a needed response after Oologah handed the Lady Cardinals their first district loss Friday.
Stringfellow was hardly the problem in that defeat, either. She struck out 11 and allowed 6 hits over 7 innings, with only 3 of Lady Mustangs' 5 runs earned.
Verdigris’ offense, however, was shut out despite Lewis going 3-for-4.
That loss put additional weight on Monday’s trip to Skiatook [12-8, 5-6], and the pressure only increased during a difficult first inning.
Stringfellow hit the leadoff batter before issuing consecutive walks to load the bases with nobody out. She responded by striking out the next two batters, putting herself one out away from escaping the jam.
She never got it.
A passed ball allowed Skiatook’s first run to score before another walk reloaded the bases. Two more runs came home on a wild pitch, putting the Lady Bulldogs ahead 3-0 without recording a hit.
Stringfellow struck out Reilly Gott to finally end the inning, but Skiatook would not put another runner on base until the sixth.
Stringfellow retired 13-consecutive batters from the second through fifth innings, including six straight by strikeout during one stretch.
That gave the Lady Cardinals’ offense time to solve Lady Bulldogs pitcher Allen, who struck out 11 but allowed 6 runs on 11 hits and 4 walks.
Verdigris finally broke through in the fourth.
Shay Melson walked before Hadlee Jefferson and Connelly Mitchell loaded the bases with consecutive singles. Paisley Martindale was then hit by a pitch to force home Melson and cut the deficit to 3-1.
After a strikeout, Lewis stepped to the plate with the bases still loaded. She cleared them.
Lewis lined a 3-run triple to right field, bringing home Jefferson, Mitchell and Martindale and suddenly flipping the Lady Cardinals' 3-run deficit into a 4-3 advantage.
Verdigris had an opportunity to add more in the fifth — loading the bases with nobody out on singles from Taber Ennis, Melson and Jefferson — but Allen escaped without allowing a run, striking out 2 after a lineout.
The Lady Cardinals made up for the missed opportunity one inning later.
Lewis opened the sixth with a single and eventually scored on Erin Gray’s groundout. Stringfellow walked and advanced to third following a single and passed ball before Jefferson drove her home with a single to left.
That pushed the lead to 6-3.
Hartman finally snapped Stringfellow’s streak in the bottom half, launching a leadoff home run to center for Skiatook’s first hit and trimming the deficit to two.
Stringfellow’s response was emphatic, though, for she struck out the next three batters, and the Lady Bulldogs never threatened again.
Stringfellow struck out the leadoff batter in the seventh before inducing consecutive groundouts to finish the complete-game victory.
Lewis finished 2-for-4 with 3 RBIs and scored a run, while Jefferson went 3-for-4 with an RBI and run scored. Mitchell added 2 hits as Verdigris outhit Skiatook 11-1.
The victory also helped the Lady Cardinals bounce back from its first district setback.
Oologah pitcher Jocelyn Leak kept Verdigris off the scoreboard in Friday’s 5-0 loss, scattering 5 hits over 7 innings while striking out 4. Lewis accounted for 3 of those hits, but the Lady Cardinals stranded runners in scoring position in the first, third, fourth and fifth innings.
The Lady Mustangs broke through on Macey Calico’s RBI single in the second, added a pair of runs in the fourth and one apiece in the sixth and seventh.
That defeat tightened what had been a comfortable District 4A-7 lead. Three days later, after falling into another early hole at Skiatook, Verdigris made sure it did not tighten any further.