Five early runs not enough, Kelly softball falls to Jackson 11-8

Kelly shortstop Lilly Jones eyes a run at home plate during a game at Kelly High School Monday, Oct. 8. (Tyler Graef/Southeast Missourian)

BENTON, Mo. — With five runs crossing the plate to open up the game, the Kelly softball team looked to be well on its way to a win on Senior Day, at Kelly High School.

One thing that Jackson didn’t let get to them though was panic.

“One of the things, I don’t know if it’s a good thing, but we’ve been good at it this year, is we’ve gotten down early a lot and have been able to don’t panic a lot,” Jackson head coach Josh Roach said. “Girls are very confident in what they do and just kind of chip away, chip away. We feel like we have a really good offense most of the time and we’re going to score runs; we never want to give them five in the first, but we were able to overcome that today.”

The bats for the Lady Indians were quiet through the first two frames, as Hawks pitcher Alyssa Tidwell went six-up and six-down to start-off on the right foot.

It looked as if Tidwell was well on her way to earning another win, on the mound, in what was her last home game. Jackson (14-8) had other plans, though, once the top of the order faced her the second time around.

Jackson scored four runs in the top of the third inning, cutting the Hawks lead to 5-4.

Libby Brakhane led off the inning with a single, then after Molly Martin reached on an error and Alli Gartman singled, Jayna Cutsinger put the Lady Indians on the board.

Cutsinger hit a sharp ball to left field, scoring two runs, and pushing the Lady Indians to within three runs of the Hawks lead at the time.

Sierra Burch — who had a big day — then joined the party, as she doubled in a pair of runs, putting Jackson right back into the game. Burch had five RBI on the afternoon — including a two-run blast in the top of the seventh.

Making the needed adjustments is one thing that Roach said his team did after opening up the game flat.

“It’s always tough to come down to Kelly and play,” Roach said. “They always have a really solid team, and they have a really good program. It’s a great way to end the regular season, as we move into the postseason and to have a game where our offense made really good adjustments.

“Early, we were not very good; they adjusted at the plate and really did a good job. We have a lot of girls that hit the ball really well. We have a very balanced lineup, really one-through-nine can get the job done; that doesn’t happen very often, and it’s nice to have that.”

Just as the Lady Indians went quietly to start the game, Kelly (14-8) followed suit, as it failed to score a run in five of the final six innings.

The Hawks managed to score three runs in the bottom of the seventh. The rally pushed Kelly to within three runs of Jackson, with the final out being a line out to center field that the center fielder had to readjust to catch.

“We just laid down and died,” said head coach Melanie Huering of her teams’ struggles late in the game. “That’s been our big problem on the year, we’ve struggled with that all year consistently. We put up big numbers in a few innings or move runners, and then in three or four innings, we’re just not putting up anything. That’s what we’re struggling with right now, and the girls know that, and they know we’ve got to execute that better for districts.”

After coasting her way through the first two innings of the game, Tidwell struggled to regain confidence after Jackson was able to break through. She eventually got lifted for Kelly Ivy — who finished off the game for the Hawks but struggled to retire batters as well.

Despite not having the most efficient outing, Huering said that Tidwell is a significant piece to the puzzle, and will have to be, moving forward into postseason play.

“She’s huge,” Huering said. “We rely on her a lot this season, she’s pitched almost every game for us, and she just has such good placement of the ball and has such command of the game — she has very few walks all season — and she’s so good defensively and offensively, at the plate, too. She’s just an integral part of our lineup.”

Even though the game didn’t go as planned, the Hawks still have a lot to take from this game.

One is the play from the top of the order. Fontbonne signee Lilly Jones, Alaney Moore, and Tidwell each went 2-4 and accounted for half of the Hawks’ runs.

For Huering, having that leadership at the top of the order — two of the three batters are seniors — really sets the tone for the entire team.

“They are such good leaders for our team,” Melanie Huering said. “They’re quiet, but yet they do the little things to teach the girls what to do fundamentally and to be smart on the bases. They talk to them, and they make sure they’re doing the right things at the right time, so they’re just good leaders; they do it quietly, but they lead for everybody on the team.”

District play begins Wednesday for Kelly, as it travels to Chaffee High School for the Class 2, District 2 tournament.

The Hawks enter as the No. 2 seed and have earned a bye for the first round. They will take on the winner of St. Puis X (7-9-1) and Saxony Lutheran (3-10) on Wednesday, at 5:30 p.m.

WP — Katelyn Carter. LP — Kelly Ivy. 2B — Sierra Burch (J), Alli Gartman (J), Jayna Cutsinger (J), Lilly Jones (K), Alaney Moore (K). HR — Sierra Burch (J). Multiple hits: Jackson — Alli Gartman 2-5, Ashlyn Prince 2-4, Jayne Cutsinger 2-4, Sierra Burch 2-4, Miranda Carnell 2-4, Morgan Conklin 2-4, Libby Brakhane 2-4; Kelly — Lilly Jones 2-4, Alaney Moore 2-4, Alyssa Tidwell 2-4.