ASHLAND Scott Ingram thought the ball was gone. Brian Deem figured the game was over.
With Ashland trailing fifth-ranked Boyle County 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning and the Kittens' Lauren Spears loitering at second base with one out, Kenzi Robinson powered a pitch to deep center field.
"For a hot second, I thought we'd had a walkoff," said Ingram, Ashland's coach.
"To be honest with you, thought it was a 2-1 loss there for a minute," concurred Deem, the Lady Rebels' skipper.
But the ball got to the warning track and no farther before Boyle County center fielder Courtney Sandy put it away.
Spears tagged up and went to third, but Lady Rebels pitcher Kyndal Honaker induced a popout to second base to preserve a 1-0 victory in the Tri-State Softball Showcase on Saturday afternoon.
Ingram isn't a meteorologist -- although softball coaches do spend a lot of time looking at radar -- but after watching Robinson's fly ball die mere feet short of producing a major upset, he pondered some weather concepts you might hear mentioned on the 11 o'clock news.
"A little bit heavier air? Little chillier?" Ingram said as the temperatures hovered in the 50s on an overcast and drizzly day. "Maybe a month from now, that ball's in the street, but it is what it is."
Instead, the Kittens (4-5) had to settle for a near-miss. Ingram still saw that as progress.
"We seem to get -- especially in this world of social media and everybody knows everything -- you get a whisper of, 'somebody's really, really good,' and it's almost like you're (mentally beaten before the game)," Ingram said. "I just said, 'Listen, (Boyle County is) a top-five team in the state. They're really, really good. Just compete.' And we did.
"It's a good step forward. It's about as happy you can be and not win."
Ashland sophomore Jada Erwin finished four outs shy of a no-hitter and yielded just one Boyle County knock, Emily Glasscock's sixth-inning single. Spears promptly erased her trying to steal second.
But the Lady Rebels (9-1) already led.
Erwin walked Boyle County's Cambry Cheek to lead off the third inning but got a ground ball on the next pitch. As the Kittens sought a double play, the throw trying to cut down Cheek's courtesy runner, Hannah Powell, at second base instead sailed into left-center field.
By the time Powell was finished running, it was a three-base error and the only run of the game.
"Sometimes you're gonna have to win games with defense and pitching, and that's what we did," Deem said. "We found a way to take advantage of a mistake. I feel like we got some speed on the bases, and we did that, and we let our defense and our pitching take over. Sometimes you gotta steal a win like this."
Ashland also had a couple of boo-boos on the base paths. A runner was called out for leaving the bag too early to end the fourth inning, and another Kitten was picked off in the fifth. She advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, saw third base uncovered, headed in that direction, hesitated midway between second and third once the Lady Rebels got back to cover the base, and got caught in no man's land.
Erwin allowed one run -- unearned -- and one hit. She struck out four Lady Rebels and walked four.
"I knew she was capable of stuff like this," Ingram said. "Kid's got all kinds of ability."
Honaker pitched about as well for Boyle County. She scattered three hits, recorded six strikeouts and zero walks, and didn't allow a Kitten to reach third until Spears got there on the second-to-last at-bat of the game.
The competitive showing for Ashland against the state's No. 5 team, plus a run-rule win earlier Saturday against Lincoln County, had Ingram feeling much better about his team than a night earlier after Nitro (West Virginia) beat Ashland, 15-4.
"I know what I think we can be, and this was a glimpse of it," Ingram said. "Obviously you gotta put a crooked number up, but (to do this) against that team, absolutely, I think that's more of who we are than last night."
BOYLE CO.   001   000   0   --   1   1   1
ASHLANDÂ Â Â 000Â Â Â 000Â Â Â 0Â Â Â --Â Â Â 0Â Â Â 3Â Â Â 2
Honaker and Cheek; Erwin and Spears. W -- Honaker. L -- Erwin. 2B -- Spears (A).
Fleming County 13, Lincoln County 3
The Lady Panthers broke free from a two-run game with nine runs in their last three at-bats to produce a mercy-rule win in six innings Saturday afternoon.
Fleming County coach Tanna Seuferer said her team needed time to time its swings to Lady Patriots pitching, and she said the Lady Panthers' intangibles helped them gain separation as well.
"I've been harping on them for communication, so if we just communicate on the field and cheer for our teammates in the dugout, good things happen," Seuferer said. "So if I can just get them to believe that -- then we started cheering and paying attention, and that just helps a lot."
So did freshman Sadie Price's five runs batted in and Sidney Argo's three hits and four runs scored. Ariana Adams, Mackenzie Staggs and Price had two hits each for the Lady Panthers (7-5), which won for the fifth time in their last six outings since a four-game skid in which they were outscored 42-15.
Fleming County went 3-1 in the Tri-State Softball Showcase. It scored 17, 15 and 13 runs in its three victories.
"I think it's contagious," Seuferer said of that offense. "If we get the front of our lineup on, then we just carry it through."
Fleming County led 4-2 through three and a half innings and scored nine of the next 10 runs to end it early. Argo started it by reaching on a leadoff bunt single, stealing second base, moving to third on a passed ball and scoring on Price's RBI single. Price later scored on a wild pitch.
Three consecutive Lincoln County errors in the bottom of the fifth each resulted in Lady Panthers runs, and Price, Gracie Newsom and Adams each drove in a run in the sixth inning. Adams's bases-loaded single provided the magic margin.
The Lady Patriots (3-11) have lost their last five games by a combined score of 71-3, but they showed signs of life Saturday.
Lincoln County scored two runs on a Fleming County error in the top of the second inning to take a 2-1 lead, and the Lady Patriots had a pep in their step perhaps best personified by pitcher Savannah Robbins fielding a Lady Panthers grounder and passing it behind her back to her throwing hand while jogging toward first before tossing it to first baseman Kaylynn Smith to end the Fleming County third inning.
"We brought some energy finally," Lincoln County coach Jordan Ward said. "That's one thing we're struggling with right now is, we're up and down. I'm not happy with the results of this weekend -- obviously I don't like to lose, don't like to lose the way we did -- but at least coming out we did get a little life in us."
Caroline Price got the win for Fleming County, compiling three strikeouts and no walks and pitching around seven hits. Robbins took the decision for Lincoln County, which committed eight errors, including four in the first inning.
LINCOLN CO.   020   001   --   3   7   8
FLEMING CO.   130   234   --   13   13   3
Robbins and Reardon; C. Price and Newsom. W -- C. Price. L -- Robbins. 2B -- Smith (LC), S. Price (FC), Staggs (FC).
Ashland 13, Lincoln County 0
The Kittens compiled a 10-run bottom of the fourth to win going away in the first game of four at Ashland on Saturday.
Tabitha Cassidy and Lauren Spears each drove in three runs to back Kenzi Robinson, who scattered five hits, struck out six Lady Patriots and walked one in a five-inning complete-game victory.
Cassidy went 4 for 4 for Ashland. Spears, Erin Patrick and Jaedon Boggs had two hits apiece. Both of Spears's knocks were doubles. Patrick and Boggs both had two RBIs.
Ashland led just 3-0 through three and a half innings before breaking loose in the fourth frame. It was about adjusting to the timing of Lincoln County's pitching, Kittens coach Scott Ingram said.
"It was different pitching, but I hate this, 'Oh my gosh, she's so slow,' like there's a rule you've gotta throw it 60," Ingram cracked. "You've gotta make adjustments. Every pitcher's different, and we did that today."
Kaylynn Smith took the decision for the Lady Patriots.
LINCOLN CO.   000   00   --   0   5   4
ASHLANDÂ Â Â 030Â Â Â (10)XÂ Â Â --Â Â Â 13Â Â Â 14Â Â Â 0
Smith and Reardon, Price; Robinson and Patrick. W -- Robinson. L -- Smith. 2B -- Spears 2 (A), Boggs (A).
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