BROOKSVILLE — Bracken County finally got a close one to go their way.
After losing four of their last six by a combined six runs, three of them by one run, the Lady Bears found a way to close out a one-run game against Fleming County, doing so 6-5 in eight innings.
Kamryn Gordley reached on an error scoring Kamryn Graves in the eighth for the winning run, the two teams needing international tiebreaker rules to decide the tightly played contest.
After Fleming took a 5-4 lead into the bottom of the eighth, Graves fielder’s choice RBI just beat the tag at home to score Ella Johnson, Graves later scoring on Gordley’s knock to second base that ended up reaching the outfield.
“It’s about time one of those tight games go our way,” Lady Bears coach Tony Green said. “You know, we lost two in the last inning down there in Owensboro. Heartbreakers both of them. Brossart the other day we didn’t play as well as we can. I forget about it. I was just hoping they forget and they did. They did really well today.”
Neither team led by more than a run the entire contest, Whitney Lippert driving in three runs for the Lady Bears including a two-run homer in the first. Lippert continues to be on a tear in the cleanup spot for Bracken.
“Whit has really come on and it’s like she’s hitting beach balls. It looks like a beach ball to that kid right now,” Green said. “She was really struggling today with a cold that five or six of us have and you can see it in her face today. She gutted it out and it was really nice to see it come together for her.”
Payton Allison was a force on the basepaths for the Lady Panthers, scoring their first two runs after a leadoff double in the first and reaching on an error, stealing two bases and then crossing home on a wild pitch to tie the game at two in the third.
Despite just tallying four hits on Bracken’s Ella Johnson, the Lady Panthers made the most of their opportunities when they got on base, leaving just five runners on base the entire game.
“Honestly that’s the first time that we’ve really worked together putting balls on the right side, putting balls on the ground. Just manufacturing runs. We’ve really worked together tonight, so I was really proud of them for that,” Lady Panthers coach Tanna Higginbotham said.
Three of the runners left came in a crucial seventh inning when Fleming loaded the bases up with one out, but were unable to get a run across, Ella Johnson collecting one of her nine strikeouts in the game followed by a groundout.
A night after she was perfect in a 12-0 victory over Calvary Christian, striking out 16 of the 18 batters she faced and allowed just two balls to be put in play, Johnson battled on Tuesday, going the distance, allowing four hits, striking out nine, walking three and three earned runs.
“It’s always nice when when your pitcher doesn’t throw her best game against a team like that and you can still win. That shows the heart soul of the rest of the team. But Ella’s not best game is still pretty good. I kind of take that I guess with a grain of salt when I say she don’t throw her best game. Most of the time she is going to have pinpoint accuracy,” Green said.
After Lippert’s third RBI of the contest in the bottom of the third, the Lady Panthers tied the game up at three in the fifth as Ava Watson’s groundout RBI scored Kylie Griggs.
Kiersten Bess scored on a pickle after a pickoff attempt at third base, a tag applied at home with the ball coming loose to make her safe, making it 4-3 Lady Bears in the bottom of the fifth.
Ariana Adams RBI single tied the game up at four in the sixth, the two going to extras from there.
Michaela Edmond’s RBI groundout scored Sadie Price in the top of the eighth for the Lady Panthers, the Lady Bears responding with two in the bottom half to snap a seven-game losing streak to Fleming dating all the way back to 2013.
“That was a real nice win for our girls today,” Green said. “Didn’t know it was that long since we beat them. Heck none of these girls know that, they were all below middle school.”
Even in defeat, Higginbotham is pleased they’re in these types of games as they prepare for Rowan County on Monday when they host the 61st District Tournament. That was the Lady Panthers fourth one-run loss this season, dropping to 1-4 in those games.
“I mean they’re just young. So getting them to understand how to work together and keeping balls in front and those kinds of plays we’re working towards them,” Higginbotham said. “Always want to win, but we started off really slow and I told them I was very proud of them that they fought back and they did what it takes to tie the game up and then we had plenty of opportunities to take the game.”
Fleming County (8-21) closes out their season with a busy week, still with four games to play starting on Thursday as they host Greenup County.
Bracken County (14-9) has four more games in the regular season before facing Mason County on May 23, starting with Holmes on Saturday.
LADY BEARS 6, LADY PANTHERS 5 (8 INNINGS)
FLEMING COUNTY — 101-011-01 — 5-4-2
BRACKEN COUNTY — 201-010-02 — 6-7-2
2B — (FC) Allison
HR — (BC) Lippert
RBI — (FC) Adams, Watson, Edmond (BC) Lippert 3, Graves
R — (FC) Allison 2, S. Price 2, Griggs (BC) M. Johnson, E. Johnson 2, Lippert, Bess, Graves
WP — E. Johnson. LP — Parker.
Records: Fleming County 8-21, Bracken County 14-9