What was a steady lead for the Graves County Lady Eagles, turned into a late comeback rally by the visiting McCracken County Lady Mustangs Monday night, resulting in an 8-4 win and the Lady Mustangs 12th win of the season.
Seven runs in the top of the seventh, would help McCracken go from down 4-1, to up 8-4 with strong at-bats throughout the lineup. Patience while bats were in hand payed dividends in a major way for the Lady Mustangs. Most of the night saw quick cycles with fly outs, pop outs, and strikeouts leading to short possessions.
The patience payed off when Savannah McDowell, who tallied one hit throughout the night, brought the heat with a two-run triple in the final inning to take the 6-4 lead.
Graves got on the board first in the bottom half of the first inning when Anna Taylor tripled to center field to bring home Brooklyn Cole and Isabella Prather doubled down in the next at-bat with a single to bring home Taylor.
Scoring would go quiet after that 2-0 lead until the top of the third Kinley Dowdy took advantage of a passed ball to steal home.
It wouldn’t be until the bottom of the fifth inning that the score would change as both defenses showed off their skills. Brooklyn Cole would get the bats moving again for Graves in the bottom of the fifth with a line drive single and Taylor would follow with a four-ball walk. As runners advanced, Cole found her opportunity to round home, capitalizing on an error at home plate on a dropped third strike, taking a 3-1 lead.
Singles from Hadley Hayden, Riley Smith and Ginger Martin would make it a 4-1 lead as they inched closer to closing out the game in the bottom of the sixth.
Two early walks got runners on base for McCracken in the seventh and McKenzie Obrien brought in the first of the inning on a grounder turned fielder’s choice. A single immediately after from Macy Butler would bring home Dowdy and a grounder turned fielder’s choice for Ava Knight scored Shelby Christoff to make it an even 8-8game.
This led to the triple from McDowell and Addley Leidecker followed with a fielder’s choice bunt to go up 7-4. The final run of the night came courtesy of Kalynn Cunningham, stealing home on an error behind the plate and two straight strikeouts from Olivia Powers would give the Lady Eagles a shot at redemption.
Redemption was nearly on the table as Roxie Fisher and Hayden connected for back-to-back singles to put bodies on bases with just one out. Unfortunately for the home team, that would be all that they could muster as Addison Dudley collected the next two strikeouts to call game.
Game stats
MCCRACKEN COUNTY 8, GRAVES COUNTY 4
MCCR 0 0 1 0 0 0 7 — 8 4 2
GRVS 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 — 4 12 1
3B: MCCR — S. McDowell; A. Taylor
TB: MCCR — S. McDowell 3, M. Butler 2, K. Dowdy 1; GRVS — A. Taylor 4, G. Martin 2, H. Hayden 2, R. Fisher 2, A. Ballard 1, B. Cole 1, I. Prather 1, R. Smith 1
SB: MCCR — C. Cox, K. Cunningham, K. Dowdy, M. Butler, O. Lee
E: MCCR — A. Knight, S. McDowell; GRVS — R. Smith
RECORDS: MCCRACKEN COUNTY (12-1); GRAVES COUNTY (6-8)