Going, going, gone: Lady Scots’ Etling blasts 2 HRs in 9-1 victory
ALVERTON – The Mount Pleasant defense misplayed a catchable pop fly in foul territory and Southmoreland’s Makayla Etling made the most of the miscue with a grand slam to propel the Lady Scots to a 9-1 victory Tuesday afternoon in Section 3-AAA action.
Southmoreland loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the second inning on consecutive singles by Maddie Brown, Brooke McRoth and Zoe Willing.
Losing pitcher Gigi Stanek jammed Etling, inducing her to hit a pop fly in front of Southmoreland’s dugout along the first base line. Two Lady Vikings converged on the fly ball, but the ball fell to the ground after a slight contingent.
Etlng made the most of the second chance by jacking the ball over the center field fence for a grand slam and 4-0 lead.
“We made them pay. She made them pay. You can’t give away outs to good hitters,” said Southmoreland coach Todd Bunner. “Once that hit happens, the tone of the game changes. Pitchers lose a little bit of what they had and the hitters gain confidence.”
Mount Pleasant coach Chris Brunson agreed.
“It changed the whole game. High school athletics is, in general, a game of momentum. And, definitely, the momentum swung in their way,” said Brunson, adding, “She hit a bomb. She earned all of it.”
The Lady Scots (1-0, 6-0) increased their lead to 7-0 in the third inning.
Amarah McCutcheon opened the inning with a single on a ball that landed just over the second baseman’s reach. Taylor Doppelheuer singled McCutcheon to third and Doppelheuer stole second.
Gwen Basinger’s fly ball to center field brought McCutcheon home and sent Doppelheuer to third base. Taylor Doppelheuer scored on Kayla Doppelheuer’s infield ground out.
Brown kept the inning alive with a double off the left-center field fence. Brooke McRoth singled home Brown for the third run of the inning.
Mount Pleasant (0-1, 3-3) scored its lone run on Ally Jones’ solo home run with two outs in the top of the fifth inning.
Southmoreland stranded a runner on second base in the fourth and fifth innings, but the bats came through in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Etling smacked a solo home run with one out and McCutcheon belted a two-out solo home run with two outs for a 9-1 lead.
Etling was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle and drove in a game-high five runs. Brown and McCutcheon both had two hits and scored two runs, while McRoth finished with two singles.
Brown allowed five hits, struck out four, walked two and hit one batter in the victory.
“We talked about how to approach her. She’s a really good pitcher. She’s been good for a long time and she’s won a lot of games. We talked about approaching her a certain way and we did, and it just didn’t work out,” said Brunson. “There were probably five or six balls hit really hard and they were hit right at them.”
Bunner noted his pitcher was not completely satisfied with her outing.
“She’s frustrated. She said she didn’t pitch a good game. There were innings where she had five or six pitches and she had three outs. That’s effectiveness,” said Bunner. “Sometimes, you have to rely on your defense. We have a good defense.
“Maddie wants to be that person. She wants to strike everyone out. They’re good hitters. She’s a battler. She wants the ball. She wants to win.”
The game was the first section contest for both teams and the coaches agreed there’s a lot of softball yet to be played.
“This is the measuring stick for our section. Southmoreland is an older team and I told our girls before the game that regardless of what happens, win, lose, or draw, we have to bounce back. We have three more section games this week,” said Brunson.
“We haven’t played in 10 days, so it’s good to come back,” said Bunner. “Practice inside the gymnasium gets old and it’s not the same. So, live action, to play a team with Chris, an excellent coach. He always puts a good product on the field. He has a good team. It’s always good to play him.”