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SOFTBALL: Berries beat Bronchos to advance to sectional final

beau wicker, pharos-tribune, logansport, ind.
·5 min read

May 22—KOKOMO — The Logansport softball team took care of business and advanced past Lafayette Jeff on Tuesday at the Class 4A Kokomo Sectional.

The Berries beat the Bronchos 9-3 to reach to the championship game.

After the Bronchos (6-16-1) scored two runs in the top of the first inning, the Berries (24-5) came out swinging with four runs in the bottom of the frame.

Aracyn Good crushed a double off the fence down the left field line to lead off the inning. Kellyn Cripe ripped an RBI single up the middle. Bella Nicoles drilled an RBI triple to right center. Brooklynn Hagerty hit an RBI sac fly to center. Jocelynn Vincent drilled an RBI triple to right center to give the Berries a 4-2 lead after one.

"We came out and kind of ambushed them in the first inning and really hit some balls really hard," Logansport coach Cory Cripe said. "And then we kind of got away from what we've been doing all year which was hard ground balls, hard line drives. We started lifting the ball and we went on a little lull there for two innings. Then we kind of found it back. Evie [Kitchel] led us off with a good ground ball up the middle and kind of got us dialed back in."

The Berries put up another crooked number in the fourth that started with Kitchel's single. Kellyn Cripe hit an RBI single to left center. The Bronchos replaced starting pitcher Reagan Hipsher with Sayler Teal and Nicoles greeted her with an RBI ground out. Natalee Packard ripped an RBI single off the pitcher's glove. Vincent lined an RBI single to center to give the Berries an 8-3 lead.

The Berries offense wasn't done as they added another run in the sixth. Packard led off with a single to right center. Hagerty drew a walk. Vincent bunted them to second and third. Adrienne Scott lined out to second. Kitchel drew a walk to load the bases. A wild pitch allowed Packard to score to make it 9-3. Rylinn Spradling lined out to short to end the inning.

Packard drew the start on the mound. An error on a bunt helped lead to a first inning rally for the Bronchos, when one run scored on a wild pitch and another scored a suicide squeeze bunt to give Jeff an early 2-0 advantage.

The Bronchos added another run in the second on a two-out double to left center by Cambria Marcus to make it a 4-3 game.

Packard allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits in two innings with three strikeouts.

Hagerty relieved and silenced the Bronchos' bats from there. She pitched five scoreless innings and only allowed one infield single. She struck out 11, including the final seven batters of the game.

"Natalee had just some bad luck early in the game, a little fist job that went over the top of the shortstop and the ball just falls in between," coach Cripe said. "I just felt like at that point they had a little momentum, I think they had a little confidence and it was time to make a change on the mound so I went with Brooklynn. She just shut them down.

"When she's throwing, it makes our defense better. Natalee's a great first baseman and so our best defense is when Brooklynn's on the mound. Natalee will get her chance again because she's a good pitcher, she just didn't quite have it tonight."

No. 6-ranked Harrison beat McCutcheon 3-0 in the first semifinal of the night. Harrison senior ace Rylan Gick, a Purdue Northwest recruit, fired a one-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts. Harrison scored three unearned runs on two hits against McCutcheon sophomore ace Kaidynn Peckinpaugh.

The Berries face the Raiders (19-4) at 7 p.m. Thursday for the championship.

"I'm tired of getting beat by Harrison," coach Cripe said. "But we've got as good a shot as anybody else right now. We're doing what we need to do and we'll see what happens."

Harrison beat Logan 4-2 on April 18 at Fincher Field.

The Berry players enter with confidence.

"I think we have a pretty good chance. During the season it was a really close game, I think 4-2 and we were right with them. I think we can beat them," Kellyn Cripe said. "We didn't really see their No. 1 pitcher. She came in to relieve an inning the last inning because they needed her to come in because we were catching up to them. But I feel like we have a good chance because we have good pitching and good defense and we hit the ball."

Harrison is the second ranked team in the state behind only Lake Central in the MaxPreps.com rankings. But Hagerty said the Berries just need to play their game and they'll have a chance at pulling off the upset.

"I'm really proud of all the girls. The past two nights we came out hyped up and excited. This is what we've worked for all season and so it's fun to get to come out here and compete together," she said. "We're ready for them. They're a very, very good team. We've been working really hard. These are the games we want. We're all just really excited for that."