Gallery by Tina Laney
Clashes on the softball diamond between Independence and Shady Spring are nearly always worth the price of admission.
That was definitely the case Monday night.
Great pitching, timely hitting and a little bit of controversy were all part of the first regular season showdown between the two Raleigh County rivals.
When the final out was recorded, it was the Patriots continuing their recent dominance over the Tigers in a 2-0 win.
“This is kind of the way it is going to go between us this year,” Independence head coach Ken Adkins said. “I told our kids, two-run games are not good for us. We were a drop ball and a big hit away from a tie game. We don’t want that.”
The words of the Independence coach nearly became prophetic in the last appearance at the plate for Shady Spring.
Down 2-0, all-stater Olivia Barnett stepped in first-ball swinging and launched a rocket curling towards the right field foul pole.
What happened next depended largely on where your loyalty aligned. In the end, the only opinion that mattered was that of the home plate umpire who ruled the ball foul.
A lengthy discussion between coaches, umpires and some disgruntled fans followed Barnett’s blast.
“From my perspective, it was a fair ball,” Shady Spring head coach Donald Barnett said. “She touched home plate before she was ever told it was foul. At that point, the Independence coach appealed it.”
Adkins on the other hand, felt confident that the ball went over the fence on the right side of the foul pole.
“(Olivia) got her hand through and got a hold of the ball, but I thought it was foul the whole way,” Adkins said.” The umpire called it foul. I didn’t even come out at first.”
When it appeared the call would be overturned, Adkins did come out to argue his case.
“(The home plate umpire) asked for help from the first base umpire who said it was a home run,” Barnett explained. “(Adkins) appealed again and (the home plate umpire) changed the call. I am not sure how that series of events ended the way it ended. When he went to get help from the first base umpire, that should have been the end of the story, but he was overruled.”
Adkins contended that the first base umpire never saw the ball because he never turned around.
The foul call stood and Independence pitcher Delaney Buckland was able to escape any further damage from Barnett.
Making the situation even more tense was what followed.
A base hit from Hadley Wood, hitting behind Barnett, and two Independence errors gave Shady runners at first and third with just one out.
Buckland weathered the storm and recorded her 14th strikeout of the night before she induced a fly ball in the infield for the third out, squelching the Shady uprising.
Independence started the game quick though and did its damage in the first two innings.
An RBI-triple from Kendall Martin in the opening frame was all that Buckland needed in her two-hit shutout win.
“I think it always is important to score quickly and we have been for fortunate against them to scratch out a run early, some how, some way,” Adkins said.
However, Indy’s second run again came with some controversy.
After an error allowed Chloe Hart to reach first base and move to second on a passed ball, Alyssa Daniels attempted to bunt Hart over to third base.
Daniels kicked the ball as she exited the box and was ruled out. Hart moved to third on the play and was not sent back to second after the ball should have been ruled dead.
Freshman Savannah Stanley hit a sharp two-out grounder that was knocked down on a diving stop by Barnett.
Stanley reached first on the infield single and Hart scored for Indy. The next batter grounded out to the pitcher.
“Good calls and bad calls are going to be part of the game. We have to understand that,” Barnett said. “However, the game should never be determined by a call or calls in a game. It should be won or lost by the players. We don’t control those parts. We only control what we do with the bats and we will do a better job.”
In the circle, Buckland and Paige Maynard from Shady Spring were again masterful allowing just two hits each in the game. Maynard, who has already signed to play at Penn State, struck out 12 batters on the night.
“We took a little while before we got patient enough to swing at good pitches. (Delaney) is a good spot pitcher and she will take advantage of undisciplined batters for sure,” Barnett said. “That is kind of what we had for the first few innings especially.”
The win moved Independence to 3-1 on the season, while Monday was the season opener for Shady.
“We are really young. I think the shortstop, the pitcher and the first baseman are the only players that we have in the same position as last year,” Adkins said. “This is a good group. I have four or five players that I can use off the bench and this group really plays well together.”
Although the bottom half of the Tigers’ lineup struggled Monday, Barnett stated his team will take a little time to develop.
“We are playing with a lot of inexperienced players right now. We graduated an entire outfield and a second baseman last year. Most of them were three and four year starters,” Barnett explained. “We will have to overcome the inexperience bug, but so will everyone else. It is our first game and we have some girls that haven’t played much softball that are stepping in to fill those roles.”
I: 110 000 0 – 2 2 2
SS: 000 000 0 – 0 2 1
I: Delaney Buckland and Sarah Bragg; SS: Paige Maynard and Kaylee Waddell.
WP: Buckland; LP: Maynard.
I: Alli Hypes (r), Kendall Martin 1-3 (3b, rbi), Chloe Hart (r), Savannah Stanley 1-3 (rbi).
SS: Olivia Barnett 1-3, Hadley Ward 1-3.
