(Cushing,Okla) Fresh off back to back stinging defeats in their Fall Festival, the Cushing tigers traveled to Mannford on August 20, seeking a victory in their challenge of the purple lady pirates.
Mannford was first on the board when they plated 1 run in the opening inning. The score stayed at 1 – 0 thru 4 innings when the purple ladies put 2 more runs on the scoreboard. The Cushing bats came to life in the 5th innings, when Kayley Walters pinch hitting for Jordan Baugus drew a free pass from the Mannford hurler, Hannah Ailey pinch hitting for Tristyn Short followed thru with a pinch single moving Walters to second. Lizzy Kennedy walked to load the bases for Tiah McNamara who singled pushing Walters across home plate.
Ailey scored when Mikaela Weaver singled to load the bags back up giving Megan Carrier the chance to help her own cause. The pirate pitcher was able to get Carrier and Fabian Blankenship to pop up to end the tiger scoring threat, but bringing the tigers to within 2 runs leaving the score at 4 – 2 pirates. The sixth inning was uneventful for both teams. Cushing plated 2 runs in their half of the 7 to knot the game at 4 apiece when Carrier started a 2 out rally when she and Blankenship hit back to back singles then scored when Kira Cox, hitting for Niccum, nailed a line drive double to the right center gap. Niccum re entered the game as a runner for Cox but got caught in a delayed steal attempt trying to squeeze another run to end the tigers’ scoring at 4.
With the game all tied up at 4, the lady pirates came to bat needing 1 run to go home. Carrier got the first batter to pop up to Kennedy at first, whiffed the second batter for the second out before giving up a double to the Mannford leftfielder Mayo. With the potential winning run standing on second with 2 outs, the defense playing up to kill the run, and running on the pitch, Mayo easily scored when the pirate rightfielder Burgess smacked one to her home spot to end the ballgame, and send the tigers home with the taste of a 5 to 4 defeat souring in their mouths. While Carrier struggled from the circle, the tiger defense kept Cushing in the ballgame, but the tiger offense left 12 tiger runners on base as they just couldn’t string together enough back to back hits.
Next up for the lady softballers will be the 3 day tourney at Oktaha Thursday thru Saturday.
