Patriots brush past ETBU in regionals

MARSHALL – Senior Megan “Roo” Richardson said she has never hit a bigger homerun in her life than Friday night’s walk off home run.

In the bottom of the 10th inning against No. 1 ranked Linfield College, Richardson hit an opposite-field solo home run to give the Patriots the 3-2 win in the NCAA Div. III West Regional Tournament at East Texas Baptist University.

“I went up to the plate telling myself to just have a good at-bat because I had not gotten a hit all game long,” Richardson said. “I was down two strikes and she gave me a good pitch. It was a great feeling because I was not going up there swinging for a home run. I just wanted to hit the ball into a hole in the defense and just get on base.”

The previous six innings before Richardson’s home run, the Patriots only managed one hit off reliever Brittany Miller.

For the first three and-a-half innings, neither offense mustered any scoring chances until the Patriots got things going in the bottom of the fourth.

Richardson popped out to start the inning but Julie Smith, the speedy slap-hitter for the Patriots, started the rally by beating out a ground ball to the shortstop.

After that, Whitney Wyly drew a walk before Ashley Klores knocked Smith in on a single to right field. Smith barely beat the throw to home when she slid to the outer part of the plate and snuck her hand in before Linfield catcher Emilee Lepp could apply the tag.

Up next, Kate Bell hit a ball to the first baseman, who tried to get Klores out at second base. However, Linfield shortstop Staci Doucette was charged with an error, letting Wyly score to give the Patriots the 2-0 lead.

Eventually, the Patriots left the bases loaded to end the inning.

“We were hitting the ball well early on, but they were always for outs. In the fourth, Julie Smith got us going and we were able to finally string some runs together,” coach Mike Reed said.

The scored stayed the same until the top of the sixth, when Patriots starter Stacy Shepherd looked to be cruising to another perfect inning.

Shepherd retired the first two hitters and walked Rochelle Friend with two outs.

The next hitter, Shepherd threw a slow changeup down the middle and Lepp hit the game-tying two-run home run that barely cleared the fence in left field.

“Lepp has been one of our big hitters all season and we were just waiting for someone to do something and when she hit that homerun, it changed the game definitely and we were able to get the game to extra innings,” Linfield coach Jackson Vaughan said.

Before giving up the home run, Shepherd threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings, which reached her unearned runs streak to 45 1/3 innings at that point.

“Stacy has just been throwing so well lately and against this great of a team, things like that just happen. I called an off-speed pitch and she just let it out over the plate. Their hitter did what she is supposed to do and hit the off-speed out of the park,” Reed said. “Stacy kept us in the ball game and then Ainsworth came in and threw lights that gave us a chance to win in extra innings.”

Ainsworth took over with two outs in the bottom of the sixth and eventually went on to throw 4 1/3 innings of two-hit shutout ball.

Ainsworth managed to get out of a two-out, bases loaded jam in the top of the eighth when she forced a groundout to second base.

In the top of the ninth, Linfield threatened again after Candice Fujino singled to start the inning and made it over to third base with two outs. Ainsworth then struck out Jaydee Baxter to end another scoring chance for the Wildcats.

“Brittany pitched six strong innings against a powerful lineup and gave us every opportunity to win and it was not her fault we lost,” Vaughan said. “It came down to our inability to get a hit in the right situation.”

Ainsworth improved her record to 15-5 on the year while Miller dropped to 14-3.

No Patriot hitter finished with more than one hit as the team only finished with four hits and Linfield only recorded five themselves.

Patriots’ shortstop Amanda Busby finished 11-for-11 on fielding, making the first three outs of the game on the exact same groundout each time.

With the win, the Patriots now face East Texas Baptist University for the sixth time this season at noon on Saturday with the winner advancing to the championship round Sunday. The loser is slated to turn around at 4 p.m. Saturday to play in an elimination game.

By Jeremy Cotham Sports Editor