HAGERSTOWN, Md. – The South Hagerstown softball team knew it was going to be a fight.
Linganore has always seemed to be a more-than-worthy opponent, but on Monday, the Rebels found themselves outnumbered.
It was two against one – the Lancers and the Rebels against the Rebels with Linganore landing the knockout punch with a surprising – and unnerving – eight-run eighth inning to wrestle away a 13-5 extra-inning victory.
“I just think emotions got the best of (the Rebels),” South coach Chelsea Showe said. “They started getting down on themselves. They got runs going on the board and we thought it was over. That’s what we talked about after the game. We can’t give up. We have to come back and fight the next round and keep it moving.”
It was tough to see, but it might have been understandable.
South (6-6) picked itself of the mat early to build a 5-2 lead by the end of the fifth. Linganore countered by scoring the last 11 runs over the last three innings, including the big eight runs that sent the Rebels down for the count.
Linganore sent 13 hitters to the plate in the eighth, using a key two-run single by Lilly Trunnell to start the flurry before Bradyn MacKay capped it with a two-out grand slam to center field to send the Rebels reeling.
The stage may have been set, though, by Addy Dryman, who led off the eight with MacKay as the ghost runner at second base to start the extra inning. Dryman proceeded to foul off six two-strike pitches by South pitcher Kailia Burke before igniting the rally with what could have been considered a harmless single.
“That girl … it was a great at bat,” Showe said.
But the real punch in the ribs came from leadoff hitter MacKay, who finished with four hits – including two doubles – and six RBIs, which was capped by the grand slam.
“And then the grand slam,” Showe said. “It like ‘What do we throw this girl?’ We were trying everything we possibly could. Khalia was hitting her spots. She was throwing her junk and it was working. But that girl, she just, she got it timed up.”
South had no answer in the bottom of the eighth, going down on a grounder and two strikeouts to end the game. Courtney Boltz came in relief with one out in the sixth for the Lancers and held the Rebels to one hit – Ja’Seri Champman’s leadoff bunt single in the seventh – and notched six strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings to get the win.
In the first half of the game, the Rebels sparred with the Lancers, taking an early 1-0 lead before allowing single runs in the third and fourth to fall behind 2-1.
Showe cornered the Rebels as they came off the field in the middle of the fourth.
I saw a lot of down faces and just kind of beating themselves up throughout the whole team,” Showe said. “I just kind of told them, ‘Now is not the time to do that. We’ve got to let the entire four innings that we’ve just played go – everything that’s happened – and we start fresh right now. Restart.’
“We kind of have this thing that we do and it’s we say ‘next round on three’ and we do ‘ding, ding, ding.’ It’s kind of like a boxing match. It’s like ‘OK. You get knocked down, but it’s OK. Next round is on me.’”
The Rebels responded with a pair of two-run innings in the fourth and fifth against Linganore starter Mikayla Bumgarner to get the 5-2 lead that eventually disappeared.
South was able to press the fight early.
The Rebels came out with a run in the bottom of the first as Chapman pushed her first of three bunt singles to reach base. After advancing on Kaelynn Kunkle’s sacrifice bunt, Chapman scored on Burke’s single to center.
Linganore tied the game in the third on Emilee Bowyer’s sacrifice fly to center before taking the 2-1 lead MacKay’s two-out RBI single.
After the pep talk, South went to work immediately.
The Rebels took a 3-2 lead after four on an RBI single by Raelee Fry and Elena Runfola’s run-scoring double.
South upped the lead to 5-2 in the fifth on two-run single by Fry with two outs.
The Lancers got two runs in the sixth to make it 5-4, when MacKay hit an RBI double and Trunnell followed with a run-scoring single.
Linganore tied the game with a run in the seventh on a passed ball.
The Lancers finished with 20 hits as Trunnell joined the four-hit club with three RBIs. Makenna Roberts added three hits and scored two runs.
Three errors were costly to the Rebel, allowing Linganore to score nine unearned runs.
Burke pitched well until the eighth, when she was charged with all eight runs and four of the five hits in the inning. She pitched 7 2/3 innings, allowing 13 runs on 19 hits while striking out three. Fry came on to get the final out.
Chapman, South’s leadoff hitter, scored twice, walked once and stole a base to lead the Rebels. Fry had two hits and three RBIs and Burke added two hits and an RBI.
The loss has South looking to make a comeback.
“No matter what happens in the beginning of the inning, we get to finish it,” Showe said. “So, I think we just beat ourselves up.”
