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Extra effort: Lady Knights win wild opener over county rival

It seemed like any time Eisenhower or Youngsville would begin to build a little momentum, the other team had an answer.

In the end, it was the Lady Knights that came away with a 12-9 victory over their county rivals in Tuesday’s Region 3 softball game at Youngsville High School. Tied 7-7 after seven innings, Ike broke out the bats for five runs in the top of the eighth and held off Youngsville’s two-out rally in the bottom of the inning.

The win started Eisenhower’s season – the first under new coach Mike English – on the right foot.

“They looked fabulous,” English said. “One thing I do is I never let them know the score, so they always think they’re playing one run behind. Our philosophy is hit the ball, play good defense, hold your head with pride – and that’s what they did. I think this team can go as far as they believe they can … I am thoroughly impressed with how well they played. Even when they made a mistake, they were able to say ‘forget it, move on.'”

The Lady Knights were able to strike first in the back-and-forth contest when leadoff hitter Lexi Head drew a walk to start the first inning and came around to score on Jocelyn Courtney’s RBI single.

Youngsville opened their half of the frame just as quickly, as Ali Ishman reached base with a leadoff single and Sam Wilkinson delivered an RBI triple to deep left. Wilkinson scored one batter later on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Elyssa Horn, making it 2-1 in favor of the hosts.

Courtney came through again for the Lady Knights with a two-out single in the third, and Payton Mineweaser cashed in the run with a triple of her own to tie the game.

The Lady Eagles loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the third inning and broke the tie when Horn sent a sacrifice fly to center that allowed Maddie Cratty to score. A heads up play by Ike catcher Joni Zortman and pitcher Courtney on a passed ball resulted in out number two when a runner was caught trying to take home, and it looked as if the Lady Knights might escape the inning without further damage.

That thought was put to rest when Madi Fehlman came through with a two-out, two-RBI single that brought in Wilkinson and Kathy Sveda for a 5-2 Youngsville lead.

Eisenhower took two runs back in the fourth thanks to Hayleigh Hishman’s single into shallow center that scored Maddie Fetzeck and Lakia Hedman. Wilkinson’s second RBI triple of the afternoon stretched Youngsville’s advantage back to two runs, and Horn’s second sac fly made it 7-4.

Once again, the Lady Knights battled back.

Courtney led off the fifth with a base hit and crossed the plate on Kirsten Wagner’s RBI single. Mallory Trumbull followed with a run-scoring single of her own, and was able to make it across the diamond to third on a Youngsville throwing error. That put her close enough to score on Fetzeck’s fielder’s choice, tying the game at 7-7.

That tie held through seven as Courtney traded scoreless innings with Youngsville pitchers Cratty and Horn.

In the top of the eighth, Zortman led off with a single and took second on Hedman’s sacrifice bunt. Zortman advanced to third when Savannah McKown reached on an error, and Head drove in the go-ahead run with a single up the middle.

Courtney kept the momentum going with a bloop single that brought in McKown, and Wagner delivered what would prove to be the hit of the game – a triple to deep left field that stretched Eisenhower’s lead from two runs to four. Wagner then crossed the plate on another RBI single from Trumbull before the Lady Eagles could come up with out number three.

Youngsville’s last chance at a comeback fell short despite a two-RBI double by Horn in the bottom of the eighth. Fittingly, it was a comebacker to Courtney that ended the rally and wrapped up an exciting start to the season for the Lady Knights.

Courtney went all eight innings in the circle to earn the win for Ike while Cratty finished with a no decision after six innings and Horn took the loss in relief for Youngsville. Cratty and Horn combined to strike out nine batters.

Courtney and Wagner led a strong day at the plate for the Lady Knights with four and three hits, respectively. Wilkinson’s three hits led Youngsville, which falls to 0-2 on the year.

“It was a great effort – 100 times better than the last game,” said Youngsville coach Ron Jameson. “They stayed calm, didn’t get excited or upset with themselves. They didn’t chase a lot of bad pitches. I don’t know how many strikeouts we had (today), but we had 14 in the first game. We were definitely more disciplined at the plate this time.”

The Lady Eagles’ plate discipline did show with five walks and a hit batter compared to just three strikeouts.

Youngsville (0-2) returns to action Wednesday afternoon, hosting Maplewood in a make-up game from last week. The Lady Knights (1-0) look to keep the momentum going Thursday against Cochranton on their new home field at Russell’s Werner Park.

EISENHOWER (12): Head, ss, 4-2-1-1, Courtney, p, 5-3-4-2, Mineweaser, lf, 5-0-1-1, Wagner, 3b, 5-2-3-3, Trumbull, cf, 5-1-2-2, Weber, rf, 1-0-0-0, Fetzeck, rf, 4-1-1-1, Zortman, c, 4-1-2-0, Hedman, 2b, 3-1-1-0, Hishman, 1b, 2-0-1-2, McKown, 1b, 2-1-1-0.

YOUNGSVILLE (9): Ishman, 2b, 3-2-2-0, Wilkinskon, c, 4-3-3-2, Dunn, cr, 0-1-0-0, Horn, ss-p, 3-0-1-5, Sveda, cf, 4-1-2-0, M. Fehlman, rf-ss, 4-0-1-2, Craig, 1b, 4-0-1-0, Hogg, lf, 3-0-0-0, Mineweaser, 3b, 4-0-0-0, Cratty, p-rf, 3-2-0-0.

Eisenhower 101 230 05 – 12

Youngsville 203 200 02 – 9

2B – Horn (Y). 3B – Mineweaser (E), Wagner (E), Wilkinson (Y) 2. WP – Courtney. LP – Horn.

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