Bulldogs let one get away

Dustin White
Effingham Daily News

May 07, 2008 12:16 pm

— Effingham St. Anthony High School let one get away Tuesday at Bulldog Field, leading visiting Shelbyville 5-2 after five innings of non-conference softball action only to see the Rams score five unanswered runs in the last two innings on the way to a 7-5 triumph over the Bulldogs.
"We just didn't finish the game," said St. Anthony coach David Schuette. "This was a classic example of us thinking we had it in the bag going into the seventh."
Shelbyville, which improved to 9-13 under first-year skipper and Altamont native Sam Mehl, had other ideas as it kept itself alive with a number of great defensive plays throughout the contest before turning on the offense late.
"We had a lot of hard hit balls, but a lot of times they were right at people," said Schuette. "(Shelbyville) also made some good plays out there."
Rams' center fielder Shannon Boone made a trio of outstanding running catches, including a rally-killer in the third as she snared Andi Schuette's line drive to start an 8-2-6 double play.
Boone fired the ball all the way to the plate too late to beat a tagging Kristen Winkler from third, but Hannah Esker had been on second base and never stopped running as she thought Boone wouldn't make the catch.
As a result, catcher Chelsey Abendroth was able to throw to second to get a second out and stop the bleeding of a three-run inning when Nikki Gray popped out to shortstop.
Not that Shelbyville's defense was always great behind starter Turaisa Welton; that third-inning rally got started because of three straight errors, including a bad throw from Welton on Kelly McHugh's bunt single to allow Allie Kabbes to score all the way from first.
St. Anthony's first run, which came in the second, was also unearned as Gray reached on a two-out double, moved to third on a passed ball and scored when Nicole Haarmann's pop to left wasn't handled cleanly.
The Rams also got an unearned run early when leadoff hitter Jennifer Hood reached second on a one-out error, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Boone's single up the middle on a pitch not much more than two inches off the ground as it reached the plate.
Esker, who started the game on the hill, came out after three and gave way to Jenny Brown, who surrendered an inside-the-park home run down the third base line to Taylor Rhodes in the top of the fourth to make it 5-2.
Rhodes also had an RBI groundout in the sixth as Shelbyville cut the deficit to 5-4 with two scores; the other run crossed with two outs when Brown struck out No. 8 hitter Hailey Eigsti swinging on a pitch in the dirt that Kabbes couldn't get the handle on.
Eigsti ran safely to first as the St. Anthony catcher retrieved the ball and designated hitter Katy Langan scored from third.
In the seventh, Abendroth and Boone both singled with one out to start the final rally before Kaylee Agney walked to load the bases.
Langan then ripped a two-run base hit to left to give the Rams the lead for the first time before Rhodes added some insurance with a two-run double to left.
Esker, who was inadvertently struck in her right throwing arm by a thrown ball early in the game and came out as a precautionary measure, was called upon to resume duties on the hill and recorded to punchouts to end the threat.
St. Anthony went down 1-2-3 in the seventh, however, with third baseman K. Agney snaring a scalded liner of the bat of Winkler and also making a nice play on an Esker ground ball to end the game.
Even though St. Anthony didn't commit any actual fielding errors in the seventh, Schuette was frustrated with the time it took for some of the Rams' base hits to be returned to the infield — possibly costing the Bulldogs a big run on a play at the plate.
"Our defense fell apart," said Schuette, whose team is now 15-12. "They started hitting the ball, and we didn't know what to do with it."
A win Tuesday would've also guaranteed the Bulldogs no worse than a .500 record at the end of this season with three regular season games (all against Effingham beginning today in the City Series) and at least one postseason game still on the docket.
"We need to get something going," said Schuette. "We need some kind of momentum going into the end of the season and regionals, but this City Series is going to be a tough three games. I've seen (Effingham coach Jerry) Trigg's girls play a couple times, and it won't be a cakewalk."
Today's City Series opener is slated for 4:30 p.m. at Bulldog Field, weather permitting. Thursday's game is at Effingham High School while Friday's action returns to St. Anthony's home diamond.
Dustin White can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 123 or dustin.white@effinghamdailynews.com.
At Bulldog Field
SHELBYVILLE
----------------ab---r---h---bi
Hood 1b-------4---1---1---0
Abendroth c---3---0---2---0
Julius cr--------0---1---0---0
Boone cf-------4---1---2---1
K. Agney 3b---3---2---1---0
Langan dh-----3---1---1---2
Welton p-------0---0---0---0
Rhodes ss-----4---1---3---3
S. Agney lf----4---0---0---0
Eigsti 2b-------4---0---1---0
Compton rf----2---0---0---0
Bitting ph------1---0---0---0
TOTALS------32---7-11---6
ST. ANTHONY
------------------ab---r---h---bi
Kabbes c--------4---1---0---0
Murphy cr-------0---0---0---0
McHugh ss------3---1---1---0
He. Esker ph----1---0---0---0
Winkler dh------3---1---0---0
Behl lf-----------0---0---0---0
Ha. Esker p-----3---0---0---0
Brown p---------0---1---0---0
M. Bushur 1b----3---0---1---1
A. Schuette 2b--3---0---1---0
Gray cf----------3---1---2---0
Haarmann 3b---3---0---1---0
Keller rf---------3---0---0---0
A. Bushur pr----0---0---0---0
TOTALS--------29---5---6---1
Shelbyville----001---102---3--------7
St. Anthony---013---010---0--------5
E — K. Agney 3, S. Agney, Welton, Rhodes, Keller. LOB — Shelbyville 5, St. Anthony 5. DP — Shelbyville. 2B — Rhodes, Gray. HR — Rhodes (4th, none on). SB — Winkler. SAC — Abendroth.
PITCHING SUMMARY
----------------IP--H--R--ER--BB--SO
Shelbyville
Welton (W)---7---6---5---1---2---3
St. Anthony
Ha. Esker-----3---3---1---0---0---1
Brown (L)---3.1---8---6---5---2---1
Ha. Esker----.2---0---0---0---0---2
WP — Welton. PB — Abendroth, Kabbes. U — Fritscher (HP), Cable (B). T — 1:18.