Streaking Argylls stop equally hot Bulldogs
May 6—LAPEL — In Wednesday's matchup of teams beginning to play very well at the right time, Madison-Grant got a six-hit complete game performance from Elizabeth Lee and a few more line drives that found green grass in a 4-1 win over Lapel.
It was the fourth straight win for the Argylls (8-6) while the Bulldogs (8-8) saw a three-game win streak of its own come to an end but has still won four of its last six games.
While one team had to suffer the loss, neither coach walked away feeling badly about his team's performance. The Argylls and Bulldogs played nearly error-free ball, got tough pitching performances and battled to the final out.
"We were happy with our win at Alex last night, but this is an iffy situation. (Tonight) isn't a conference game. It's senior night for (Lapel), and we play five straight days. We play Thursday, Friday, Saturday after this," M-G coach Travis Havens said. "I feel good about our defense today."
"I'm a little disappointed because we've had talks all season long about making adjustments at the plate, and we didn't do that tonight," Lapel coach Scott Rich said. "But, other than that, I thought Makayla Smethers played a whale of a game at second base. Ashlynn (Allman) made some plays at first base for us, too. I thought defensively (this) was the best game we've played."
Lee was effective from the start, utilizing an offspeed pitch that kept the Bulldogs hitters off balance. She recorded just three strikeouts but was able to induce ground balls and popups when she needed to, and when the Bulldogs did hit the ball hard, her defense was equal to the task.
"The offspeed pitch was the main pitch we threw today, and it worked," Lee said. "We throw that pitch knowing that the defense is going to act well on it, and we're going to make a lot of outs with it."
After stranding five runners in the first two innings, the Argylls broke through in the third. After consecutive walks to start the inning, Chelsea Parker chased the first run home with a double to left center. One out later, catcher Gracey Fox — returning to the batting order following a prolonged hitting slump — slapped a single to right to score two more runs for a 3-0 lead.
"We haven't let (Fox) hit the last three games. She's been struggling," Havens said. "She's caught, but she did not hit. A lot of kids in that situation would have packed it in, but she did not. She chose to go to work, and she worked outside of our practices on her hitting. She knew she would get her opportunity. She got it today, and she made the most of it."
Fox added a second single later in the game.
That was all Lapel senior Avery Bailey allowed until the seventh. The Argylls had runners aboard in every inning except the fifth, but Bailey got weak grounders to leave runners aboard and twice Smethers snared a line drive that turned into an inning-ending double play.
"I told them they all needed to fight like Avery Bailey did in the circle tonight," Rich said.
The only time Lapel's offense touched Lee was in the fourth, after the first two batters were retired. Taylor Williams singled to left before Madi Carpenter hammered a triple to the fence in right to score courtesy runner Alexa Owens.
An RBI single by Parker provided the Argylls a vital insurance run in the top of the seventh.
Bailey led off the bottom half with a single for the Bulldogs before, with one out, both Krystin Davis and Chloe Tucker drew walks to load the bases with Lapel's two biggest bats coming to the plate.
But Lee got Allman to ground into a force out before Daniels — who had hit into bad luck all day with three line-drive outs — flew out to Lee's sister Sydney in left field to end the game.
"I was getting a little nervous, but I knew we got it," Lee said. "We just had to calm ourselves and do what we do, get outs."
Contact Rob Hunt at
or 765-640-4886.
