Late runs lead Somerset to victory over East Jessamine

May 14—The two favorites of the 12th Region, the Somerset Lady Jumpers and the East Jessamine Lady Jaguars, squared off on Saturday evening at Southwestern High School's War Path in a potential preview of the 12th Region championship game. East Jessamine had only lost four games in the season heading into Saturday's colossal clash, featuring the likely region player of the year in senior Kayleigh White.

In a game earlier in the day, the Lady Jumpers fell to Corbin by a score of 6-1 that gave Somerset two straight losses. In their regular season finale, the Jumpers were looking for the upset. Despite being down by two runs heading into the final inning, Somerset was able to prevail, winning their season finale against East Jessamine 9-7 in a five inning ball game.

Somerset was the away team in the contest, with Jazlynn Shadoan leading off the ball game with a double to left field. A ground out by Mollie Lucas advanced Shadoan to third base but also was the second out. Eighth grader Remie Smith, East Jessamine's starting pitcher, then struck out her first batter of the evening to retire the side.

Freshman Natalie Alimento led off the bottom of the first with a double to right field to jumpstart the Lady Jaguars' offense. White scored the first run of the ball game with one out, hitting a massive shot to deep right field for an RBI triple that gave East Jessamine the 1-0 edge. An RBI double by sophomore Taegan Bentley increased the Jaguars' lead to 2-0. A two out single by junior Jessyca Searcy put runners on the corners and almost led to another run but a fly ball from the next batter was caught by Kayleigh Bartley to end the first frame.

Emme Goforth drew a walk to begin the top of the second inning. Grace Prichard soon joined her on the base path after being hit by a pitch before a single to right field by Bartley loaded the bases for Somerset with no outs on the scoreboard. A perfectly placed bunt by Kennadi Asher gave her an RBI single for the first Somerset run of the ball game. The Jumpers tied it up a few moments later after Kylie Spencer hit into a fielder's choice, with the runner from third coming home.

With the game now tied, a fly out was caught by freshman Kylee Oliver for the second out. The Lady Jumpers were not done scoring however, as Emry Pyles stepped up and smacked the ball to left field, scoring two RBI in the process and putting Somerset on top 4-2 as the top of the frame soon came to a close.

Oliver led off the bottom of the second for East Jessamine and smacked a double to left field. A pop out advanced Oliver up to third base. Senior Maddie Horn had a strike to center field, with an error allowing her to get to base safely and scoring the third East Jessamine run of the contest. Another White double tied the ball game up at 4-4 before the final out of the inning, with the game starting to heat up on the offensive end of the plate.

Smith found her footing on the mound for the Lady Jaguars in the top of the third, retiring three straight batters with two coming on strikeouts.

It wasn't long before East Jessamine broke the tie in the bottom of the third inning, as sophomore Alexandra Cox-Smith hammered a ball to left field over the wall, putting the Jaguars on top 5-4. Jessyca Searcy hit a single after that and made it to third after two steals. She was left stranded there though after Somerset sat down three straight batters, with Carly Cain getting her first strikeout of the evening.

Bartley was hit by a pitch to begin the top of the fourth inning and made it to second base after a sacrifice bunt from Asher. Another strikeout from Remie Smith went for the second out. Shadoan tied the game right back up after this, hitting an RBI single on a fly ball to center to make it 5-5. Smith sat down the next batter on a strikeout to retire the side.

Another lead off double for the Jaguars began the bottom of the fourth, this one from Alimento. East Jessamine reclaimed the lead again off a Horn home run over the wall in center, making it 7-5 in favor of the Lady Jaguars. White hit yet another double following this to put another Lady Jaguar in scoring position, however the Somerset defense stepped up and retired three straight batters to get out of the frame.

The Jumpers were down to their final three outs in the fifth inning, with Lucas leading off with a hit into right field for a single. Two more singles from Cain and Goforth loaded the bases up for Somerset and gave them a chance for a late comeback. Prichard then hit into a fielder's choice, although this scored the sixth Somerset run of the game and put them just one run behind their opponents, with Prichard being safe at first after the Jaguars went after the lead runner. Bartley tied up the game at 7-7 with an RBI single on a hard ground ball to left field, but the Jumpers were not done with their offense quite yet.

A fielder's choice put the first out on the board, although the bases were still loaded for Somerset. Spencer then drew a walk on just five pitches, giving the Lady Jumpers the lead they were looking for at 8-7. Shadoan had another RBI off a single into left field to make it 9-7 in favor of the visiting team on the scoreboard, with a runner being tagged out at third for the second out. Pyles was hit by a pitch to load the bases up once again but a fielder's choice left them stranded for the final out.

The tables were now turned and East Jessamine was down to their final three outs. After a fly out and a third strikeout from Cain, the Lady Jaguars now only had one more out to work with. A single from junior Emily Searcy brought the game-tying run to the plate in Alimento. She made contact with the ball on the fifth pitch, with it sailing in the air over to first where Goforth made an easy grab for the final out of the game. Somerset celebrated their upset victory over East Jessamine by a score of 9-7.

The Lady Jumpers were led by two RBI's apiece from Shadoan, Pyles and Spencer, with Prichard, Bartley and Asher all adding a single RBI each. Cain earned the victory on the mound while striking out three. East Jessamine was led by two RBI's apiece from Horn and White.

Somerset finishes the regular season with a record of 21-9. The Jumpers will next be in action at the 47th District Tournament.

Jacob Pratt is the Sports Editor of the Commonwealth Journal and can be reached at jpratt@somerset-kentucky.com. You can follow him on Twitter @PrattTheNation