By CHARLIE HUST
The WCHS Lady Trojans battled to one of their best wins in recent memory on Thursday, upsetting Region 2 favorite Henderson County 8-7 in 10 innings to snap and six-year winless streak against the Lady Colonels.
WCHS followed that victory with an easy 10-0 thumping of Dawson Springs on Friday.
The Lady Trojans (7-11) are back in action Thursday hosting Hopkins County Central. They will travel to Lyon County on Saturday.
Webster County 8
Henderson County 7
The Lady Trojans showed some heart and grit last Thursday before a large crowd at Clarky Clark sport complex in Dixon, beating Henderson County for the first time since 2008.
A ‘walk-off’ two-run single from Jerrica Jones completed the roller-coaster ride of a game which senior hurler Bailey Townsend called ‘an unbelievable journey’ with crucial offensive and defensive plays being made on both sides and momentum shifts leaving the bleachers full of fans grasping for air.
“I want to thank those who came out and supported us and the nice comments that followed the game,” noted WCHS head coach Greg Sutton. “To go in and win against a team that drummed us in three innings 15-0 last month, our girls showed a lot of heart. We’ve (coaches) been telling them about confidence and coming together as a team. And anytime a coach can sit back and watch his team play the way they did tonight ... not giving up ... it’s a true blessing. Great things happen when you play as a team and that’s what they did tonight.”
And the win took some heroics from many different Lady Trojans ... Christian Papineau, Macye Davis, Bailey Townsend, Jerrica Jones, Georgia Kenney, Kelsey Mays ... to name a few, all had their time in the spotlight.
Junior shortstop Christian Papineau jump-started the WCHS offense with a lead-off double against Henderson pitching ace Katelyn McMillan. She scored when Henderson mis-handled a bunt from Jerrica Jones.
Webster then took a 4-0 lead in the second with an exciting three-run rally. Papineau again was the catalyst, stroking a two-double to plate Madison Townsend. Back-to-back singles from Jerrica Jones and Kelsey Mays extended the lead to 4-0.
Handed a quick 4-0 lead, Bailey Townsend kept the talented Lady Colonels silent through the first four innings. They finally broke through with a single run in the fifth and had runners at second and third with two outs. Papineau then made a sparkling defensive play at shortstop, diving towards second base and snaring a grounder off the bat of Jaime Raleigh that was headed for center field. Papineau fired a bullet to first to nip Raleigh by an eyelash for the out to end the inning.
Henderson tied the game in the sixth with two bunt singles, an error and a two-run single from Hannah Givens. Henderson seemed poised to take command of the game with the bases loaded and no outs. But Townsend fought through the heart of the HCHS batting order, retiring the 3-4-5 hitters in order.
Tied at 4-4 through seven innings, each offense would being extra innings with a runner already at second base, via the KHSAA tie-breaking rule.
Both squads went scoreless through the seventh and eighth innings until McMillan blasted a double to lead off the ninth. She later scored on a single to give Henderson a 6-4 lead. Papineau made another spectacular defensive play in the inning for the second out, firing a perfect throw to catcher Kelsey Mays to nail Whitney Brown and hold the rally to just two runs.
But the relentless Lady Trojans put together a two-run rally of their own in the bottom of the frame. Kelsey Mays was awarded second base via the tie-breaker rule and pinch-runner Hadlee Carter took her place. She sprinted home on a single from Georgia Keeney to trim the lead to 6-5. Macye Davis then delivered a boom triple to left field to easily score Keeney and tie the game and put the winning run at third with no out. But Henderson escaped further damage when Davis was caught in a run-down at third on Kristen Jones’ bunt and then McMillan retired the next two hitters to end the threat.
Henderson regained the lead in the top of the 10th when ? Powell stroked a double to bring in the go-ahead tally.
That set the stage for Webster’s thrilling come-from-behind victory, courtesy of another hero, Jerrica Jones. Kayleigh Wood was issued a one-out walk and Papineau stroked her third hit of the game and she sprinted to second on the safety as Henderson tried to get pinch-runner Kayla Yates at third.
Jones then smacked a hard grounder past the second-baseman Andee Powell, scoring Yates as well as Papineau who sprinted around third and dove into home with the winning run just ahead of the throw from left field.
It was a sweet victory for Papineau, who played this summer with the majority of the Henderson County squad on a traveling team. And her thoughts on the victory were very simple.
“We just kept fighting,” the junior infielder stated.
Webster had 11 hits in the victory, three from Papineau and two each from Jerrica Jones, Mays, Kristin Jones.
Townsend earned the pitching victory, allowing just one earned run on seven hits and stranding 14 HCHS runners as WC committed eight errors.. McMillian and the Lady Colonels were also bitten by the error-bug, committing six. The Henderson ace fanned 12 Lady Trojans.
Webster County 10
Dawson Springs 0
Still buzzing from their big win over Henderson on Thursday, the Lady Trojans had little trouble with the Lady Panthers on Friday in Dawson Springs.
Webster clubbed 12 hits, stole nine bases and breezed past DSHS in just five innings.
Jerrica Jones led the offensive charge with two doubles, three runs scored and two RBI. Macye Davis added a triple and single and two RBI while Christian Papineau also had two hits and three runs scored. Georgia Keeney got in on the hit parade with a double, single and two RBI while Madison Townsend also had two singles. Kristin Jones and Kayleigh Wood had one single each.
Webster scored five runs in the first with Jones’ first double and a run-scoring three-bagger from Davis being the big hits. Another RBI-double from Jones in the second plus a bunt single from Davis that scored a run stretched Webster’s lead to 7-0.
While the WCHS offense was clicking, senior hurler Bailey Townsend was well on way to a three-hit shutout, dominating the Lady Panthers with six strikeouts in just five innings.
Webster scored its final three runs in the fourth, aided by three Dawson field errors. Georgia Keeney’s double was the big blow, chasing home two runs for WCHS.