By DOUG EADS, CJ Correspondent
Somerset — It wouldn’t be doing Pulaski County or Somerset justice by calling Tuesday night’s clash between these two rivals as the district opener for both squads.
To the contrary, last night’s encounter on the Lady Jumpers home turf had all the flavor of a regional tournament semi final or championship game, even though it was the first game against a league foe for both clubs.
This one was another instant classic in this storied rivalry, and wasn’t decided until the final pitch of the night.
So what else is new?
Pulaski County’s Lindsey Stephens nailed down the win for the Lady Maroons by fanning both Jessica Coffey and Drew Jackson on called third strikes for the final two outs of the contest, enabling Scott Taylor’s club to come away with a very hard-fought, 2-1 victory.
“This game had that kind of intensity of a regional tournament game,” stated Taylor, after his club moved to 9-3 with the win over Somerset.
“The energy was there all night,” Taylor added. “Somerset is a very good ball team — there’s no question about it. They’re going to be a team to be contended with in both the district and the region. We had to come out and play a top notch game, and we didn’t play our best game, but we played a good game.”
Indeed, both clubs helped to make this one an instant classic.
PC’s Brittany McKee and Somerset’s Paige Gadberry were hooked up in a classic pitcher’s duel early on, with neither team being able to get anything whatsoever kick-started at the plate.
Runs figured to be at a premium with the way both of these aces were throwing the ball early on, and indeed they were.
However in the end, it was PC making just enough plays to topple Somerset once again, leaving Lady Jumper head coach David Dorsey wondering what might have been in another loss to his cross-town rival.
“At some point before I’m done here, we’ve got to figure out a way to win one of these kind of games with PC,” stated Dorsey, after his club fell to 10-5 on the year with the loss.
“We put the ball in play a lot more than I thought we would to be honest with you,” Dorsey added. “I think we had five strikeouts, which that’s not that bad against good pitching. Like I just told my bunch after the game — the team that doesn’t make base-running mistakes, doesn’t miss signs, makes plays in the field, and puts the ball in play with runners in scoring position is going to win the ballgame. That’s what PC did tonight.”
While McKee and Gadberry were retiring hitters left and right early on, McKee only lasted two innings on the mound, giving way to Stephens due to a sore arm.
“People may be wondering why I took out (Brittany) McKee, but her elbow was hurting her and she just couldn’t pitch any more,” pointed out Taylor.
“That’s a big step for us,” said the PC head coach. “In game’s past, we’ve had players hurting physically that didn’t want to come out of the game, because they wanted to stay in there and play. That’s both good and bad. Brittany completely put her team first tonight, because she came up to me and said, ‘I can’t go anymore’, and that’s the sign of putting the team first. If we can get everybody on our team to buy into that concept, and put the team first and individuals second, we’ve got a chance to be a very good team this year.”
While McKee went down due to the sore elbow, Stephens came on in relief of the sophomore and picked right up where she left off.
And, her teammates staked her to a two-run cushion, scoring lone runs in the fourth and fifth innings to give her just enough breathing room to pick up the victory.
In the top of the fourth frame, Katie Duff’s RBI single gave the Lady Maroons a 1-0 lead, while in the fifth frame a run-scoring single by Heather Katulski gave Stephens all the run support she would need on this night.
Somerset meanwhile had its chances, stranding a total of 10 base runners on the night, and that fact alone came back to bite the Lady Jumpers big-time in the bottom of the seventh inning.
After Stephens retired Somerset’s Kristen Floyd to begin the frame, Emily Ousley worked the PC pitcher for a walk, and Samantha Dorsey followed her with a double, driving in the Lady Jumpers first run of the night.
Dorsey, the tying run, then moved to third base on a wild pitch from Stephens with only one out.
Jessica Coffey then came to the plate and struck out looking for the second out, but Bethany Edwards followed Coffey with a walk, and promptly stole second base, putting the winning run for Somerset in scoring position.
Drew Jackson came to the plate with a chance to wear the laurel of hero, but Stephens ended the suspense by striking her out looking to end the game, giving PC a 2-1 victory and a 1-0 start inside the 47th District.
“The fact that we struck out with our number three and number five hitters with the tying run on third doesn’t bother me,” stated Dorsey. “What upsets me is that on both of those strikeouts, we took a called third strike. If we swing and strike out and we’re up there being aggressive, that’s fine because that’s the way the game is played. Not to give us that chance by holding the bat is tough to swallow sometimes.”
“I would just like to come out on top in one of these games before I get out of this,” Dorsey added. “My time is drawing near, but I’d like to win one of these before I get out of here.”
Both Somerset and PC will return to action tomorrow night inside the 47th District once again.
The Lady Jumpers will travel to Liberty to face Casey County, while PC will be at home tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. entertaining Rockcastle County.
PC 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 —2 5 0
SHS 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 —1 5 5
DOUBLES—(SHS) Dorsey.
RBI’S—(PC) Katulski, Duff. (SHS) Dorsey.
WP—Stephens
LP—Gadberry
