Prep fastpitch: Hilldale falls on walk-off slam, but earns 4A-6 title on tiebreaker
Sep. 28—Hilldale lost the battle, but won the war.
But the battle might sting just a little.
Evie Lemery hit a two-out grand slam for a 6-4 walk-off win for Verdigris at Verdigris on Tuesday, to draw even with the Lady Hornets at 11-1 in District 4A-6 play.
Hilldale (20-7 on the season) which won 5-1 at Hilldale in mid-August, owns the second tiebreaker, which is run differential in the two games, and after finishing as runner-up to Verdigris (28-5) last season, will return to the district title chair.
Perhaps most significantly, they'll host a regional next week. They were on the road as the runner-up last year and saw their run of consecutive state tournament appearances end at nine — the same as their district title run.
"That's big, I mean it's why winning district has always been so important," said Hilldale coach Darren Riddle.
The salve for any sting came in the sixth when with two on and no out, Brooklyn Ellis retired three straight on a pop outs to Lexi Cramp at first and Lilly Beverage at second, who made the stab on a line drive for the third out. At that point, the worst Hilldale could lose by was four, and the Lady Hornets owned the third tiebreaker — overall run margin in all district games.
"I mean, at that point, we knew we'd accomplished what we set out to," Riddle said.
All of Verdigris' runs came via the long ball, all off Ellis, the Hilldale ace. Reagan Bennett homered to center to lead off the fifth, then with two outs in the inning, Young homered to left, also a solo shot, to cut Hilldale's advantage at the time to 3-2.
"The zone was, let's just say extremely tight," said Riddle.
Landrie Sloan's sacrifice fly in the seventh plated Cramp, who started the inning with a walk, to give Hilldale an insurance run going into the Lady Cardinals' final at-bat.
In the seventh, Presley Tipton, Emma Young and Taelynn Ballinger all singled to start the inning, Young and Ballinger reaching on infield hits.
Ellis struck out Emma West, then Grayce Taylor hit back to Ellis and in to a force at home for the second out.
Then Lemery, who struck out, popped out and singled in previous trips, parked one over the fence in center.
Ellis drove home one of two runs in the fourth, and Sydney Sapulpa had two hits and scored a pair of runs, one on Cramp's flyout in the third for the first run, and Hilldale led 3-0 as late as the fifth. Kensley Allen also had two hits off winning pitcher Lemery, who scattered seven hits in a distance-going effort. She walked five and struck out four.
Ellis struck out six and walked none.
Hilldale will play two final non-district games later this week at the Oklahoma Christian University Festival in Edmond. Choctaw and Edmond Santa Fe before beginning regionals next week.
