By JON WEBB
Glasgow Daily Times
GLASGOW —
Three first inning scores weren’t enough for the Barren County Cynergy Friday morning, as the 12U team fell to D.C. Everest (Wis.) 7-5 in the Ohio Valley Regional softball tournament at Beaver Trail Complex. The loss dropped Barren to 0-2 in pool play competition.
An additional loss in their 5:30 matchup on Friday eliminated the Cynergy from contention.
Amber Jones opened the top of the first with a walk and moved into scoring position thanks to a Kennedy Logsdon pop single. Due to a Jayce Edwards liner down the left side of the field, Jones was caught in a force out, but a shot to right field courtesy of Taylor Williams put the Cynergy back in sync, bringing in Logsdon and Edwards to hand Barren a 2-0 lead. The Cynergy added a third run later in the inning when Hanna Ward skidded a single to score Williams.
Starting pitcher Jones muted Everest’s bats in the bottom of the first. Lead off batter MacKenzie Mathies reached after an errant pitch clacked off the side of her helmet, but Jones recovered for three consecutive outs.
Ending the bottom of the second proved more difficult. Everest’s Miranda Gajewski led off the inning with a walk before Morgan Johnson beat out an infield single, pushing the runner to second. A subsequent Teagan Tretter fly ball splashed in the infield dirt to notch a run. Two additional scores off a passed ball and sacrifice grounder, respectively, knotted the score at 3-3.
Neither squad managed any offense in the third, but D.C. grabbed its first lead of the game off a Lexie Brown RBI single to left field in the fourth. A dropped flyball later in the stanza saw the Everest lead climb to two.
In the top of the fifth, Barren nearly grabbed that lead back. Kennedy Sampson started things off by taking first on an error. A fielder’s choice groundball from Kenzie Wells erased Sampson and the hitter herself soon trotted back to the dugout after she was caught attempting to steal second. Ella Settle remained on the paths longer thanks to a pop fly base hit and a Morgan Clay reach-on-error that landed Settle at third. Jones brought Settle the rest of the way with a groundball up the middle.
Logsdon clinked a single to centerfield that caused Clay to round for home. She was stopped about 30 feet from her destination, though, when the Everest defense quickly returned the ball to the infield and ensnared Clay in a doomed rundown.
Two additional scores in the bottom of the fifth inflated the D.C. lead 7-4. Barren responded by loading the bases and coming within two runs of a tie after a Samson strikeout ball squirmed free of the Everest catcher and sent Edwards sprinting for home. But the other baserunners remained where they were as D.C. pitcher Gajewski provoked a game-ending groundout.
The 12U team consisted of Settle, Logsdon, Edwards, Williams, Delisha Reynolds, Ward, Jones, Wells, Sampson, Clay, Brittani Dugger, Allie Chapman and Madison Hume.
