Monday’s softball tilt between county rivals Indian Creek and Greenwood was anything but a pitchers’ duel, but it was a pitcher who wound up making the difference.
Jozie Farris put the Braves in front with a two-run single in the top of the fourth, then came on in relief and cooled off the Woodmen’s bats the rest of the way in a 12-7 victory.
The game was the season opener for both teams.
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Farris’ go-ahead hit capped a four-run fourth inning that gave Indian Creek a 7-5 lead. Delaney Heminger also singled in a run during that rally, with Haylee Mathena adding an RBI groundout.
“I wanted to hit opposite field so I could move them,” Farris said. “It really wasn’t about me getting on; it was about me moving them in.”
Allison Hayes manufactured an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth to get the Woodmen back within one, but the Braves put things away with four more runs in the sixth inning. Farris singled to bring in Talea Bowling, and Michaela Denney knocked in a pair with her third hit of the day before later scoring herself on an error.
Greenwood had an opportunity to rally back in the bottom of the sixth, but Farris wiggled her way out of danger, leaving the bases loaded after giving up just one run. Emily Todor’s RBI single in the top of the seventh closed out the Indian Creek scoring.
“All in all, it was a good effort for the first game out,” Indian Creek coach Gary Mitchell said. “We were pretty happy with them. … We both were shaking the rust off a little bit.”
The Braves drew four first-inning walks, including one with the bases loaded, but another baserunner was thrown out at the plate and Indian Creek left the bags full.
It didn’t take the visitors long to lament the missed opportunity, as Hayes led off with a poke that just cleared the wall in left center. Anna Pritchett then reached second on an error, stole third and came home when Kiley Hankenhoff dropped a base hit into shallow right field. Hankenhoff scored on a two-out error two batters later, and an RBI single by Kristen Whobrey gave Greenwood a 4-1 edge after one.
Indian Creek cut the deficit to a run in the third when Alley Fleener and Bobbie Suttles drew consecutive bases-loaded walks with two out, but the Woodmen made it 5-3 in the bottom of the inning when Alexis Rees singled, advanced on a fielder’s choice and scored on an error.
Heminger and Kayla Lemmon joined Denney with three hits each for the Braves. Hayes and Hankenhoff led the Woodmen with three hits apiece.
“It’s not a complete loss for us,” Greenwood coach Greg Norwood said. “We tried to look at it more as we gained a lot of data, and hopefully we can turn that into something that we can work with when we have our conference games.”
