The Benton Rangerettes (17-12, 4-5 SIRR Ohio) were able to give their three departing seniors a nice going away present on Friday evening, as they took down the Harrisburg Lady Bulldogs (17-11) 4-2 in a tough conference contest on Senior Night. Before the game, seniors Taylor Mosley, Aubrey Hunter, and Mallory Shreves were honored with flowers and framed jerseys, and given a photo-opportunity with their parents on the third base line.
Benton scored all four of its run in a big surge in the third inning to go up 4-1, and then held on defensively to eek out the victory. The Bulldogs scored once more in the sixth, but the Rangerettes clamped down in the seventh as Mosley struck out two of the last three batters, and got a gorgeous assist from catcher Cristen Shaw who picked off a runner at first base for the other out of the inning. It was the third pickoff attempt of the inning for Shaw, who came very close on each of the previous throws.
"Cristen's been doing a good job. She works really hard in the winter time, and it's paying off, because not too many people steal on her, and we definitely picked off a lot of players this year," said coach Sarah Stowers after the game. Stowers added that this was a game you always want to win for the departing seniors. "It's a good way to go out on the season at home, and hopefully something to start us off going into the regionals," added Stowers. "We have three seniors that we're going to definitely miss and we just wanted to give them a win to give them a good memory at home."
Matty Hawkins took the loss on the mound for the Lady Bulldogs, giving up six hits altogether while striking out four batters. At the dish, Hawkins was 1-for-1 and reached twice on an error and via base-on-balls. Realign Boma and McKenzie Sullivan scored Harrisburg’s two runs in the game.
Eb Casey was 1-for-3, and impressed everybody coming back just one day removed from a fractured nose. Stowers added that she was proud of Casey's effort and toughness playing through the injury, and also gave compliments to the outfielders for making several key plays in the game. Lacey Jerkins was 1-for-3 with a run scored; Courtney Reno was 1-for-4; Shaw was 1-for-3; Ally Gischer and Lindsey Seidel were both hitless but each scored a run. Mosley, the winning pitcher, was also hitless but reached base three times on two errors and a fielder's choice while fanning four on the mound.
"If we play our A-game, we can beat anybody," added Stowers, who noted that the Rangerettes first Regional contest will be this Wednesday at and against Centralia at 4:30 p.m.
