‘Why you play the game’: Northeastern softball rises to occasion to beat Hagerstown
FOUNTAIN CITY, Ind. — For those who weren’t at the Wayne County Softball Tournament Championship not quite a month ago, here’s a scene-setter: Hagerstown won the back-and-forth battle of a title game 9-6 over Northeastern April 23. Since then, the Knights had rattled off six consecutive wins, and the Tigers had lost three times in five tries. One team was seeking revenge, and the other was trying to right the ship.
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Thursday was an opportunity to play again. Thursday was a chance for both teams to rise to the occasion. Thursday was why you play the game.
That’s exactly what Northeastern assistant coach Dustin Russell said to sophomore Lilly Null before she stepped up to the plate for what turned out to be the biggest at-bat of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning.
“This is why you play the game,” Russell hollered to the Knights’ cleanup hitter.
Down 4-3 with two outs and runners on first and second base, Null worked the count full. Earlier in the at-bat, sophomore Emma Neeley got caught in a rundown between second and third base, but she was able to scramble back to second to keep the inning alive. Once again, Russell gave Null the reminder: “This is why you play the game.”
“The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife,” Russell said. “These are the moments you live for. You want those opportunities, and she’s never going to forget this. That’s why we play the game. That’s what makes it fun.”
The very next pitch, everyone in the park knew what happened as soon as Null made contact. It was a changeup, and she sent it high, deep and well over the left-field wall to give the Knights a 6-4 lead.
“That’s why I play softball,” Null said. “That’s what I love. That’s what we play for: 3-2 count with two outs. It feels great.”
Northeastern went on to win 7-5. While Null’s home run was the biggest hit of the day, there were plenty of other moments in which each team rose to the occasion.
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Hagerstown’s second trip through the batting order proved to be its first scoring opportunity. Senior Marissa Slagle drove home fellow senior Tori Kelley with a two-out single to tie the game. Slagle advanced to second on an error, giving freshman Rylan Young the second scoring chance of the inning.
“Rylan is not a freshman to me — she’s a softball player,” Hagerstown head coach Bruce Charles said. “That’s why she’s in our four hole. I put her behind Slagle to protect Slagle, and she’s done a great job all year. I have so much confidence in Rylan Young, it’s unbelievable.”
Young quickly fell behind in the count with two strikes, and Charles provided some encouragement of his own.
“You’re a good two-strike hitter,” he reminded Young.
The very next pitch, Young lined a single through the middle of the diamond to give the Tigers the lead.
She found herself in nearly the exact same situation two innings later. Down by a run again, Young stepped into the batter’s box with two outs and two runners on base. She lined another pitch into the outfield to score both runners and give the Tigers the lead again.
“Both teams fought hard. We were both into the game,” Kelley said. “All of our girls stepped up, and all of their girls stepped up. It was just who wanted it more.”
You still couldn’t tell who wanted it more going into the seventh inning. Northeastern held a 7-4 lead, and it was as loud as it had been all evening, which has become a staple of matchups between these teams.
The Tigers needed a spark, and Kelley, the team’s leading hitter, provided that to lead off the inning. If you remember Null’s home run from earlier, Kelley’s at-bat looked a lot like that. As she circled the bases, her teammates were going crazy in the dugout, rejuvenated by her late-inning blast.
“That was amazing,” Kelley said. “At first, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s not going over.’ Then, I saw it behind the fence, and that felt good. It just makes me smile. I had two strikes, and I was like, ‘I just have to put the ball in play,’ and there it went.”
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That gave the Knights one last opportunity to rise up. This time, it came from sophomore Clare Lopeman in the pitching circle. After giving up the homer, she hunkered down to retire the next three batters with a popout and a pair of strikeouts to end the game.
“I think we’re really good at playing under pressure,” Null said. “Clare is great at that — she knows what she has to do, and we believe in her.”
The Knights’ win evened the season series with the Tigers at one game apiece. If both teams make it to the sectional championship, there will be yet another chance to rise to the occasion, and you shouldn’t need a scene-setter to get an idea of how that game will go.
Zach Piatt reports on sports and education for The Palladium-Item. Contact him at zpiatt@gannett.com or on Twitter @zachpiatt13.
This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Northeastern softball bests Hagerstown in Wayne County final rematch
