SOFTBALL: No. 2 Panthers belt Kats with big extra-base hits
May 1—RUSSIAVILLE — When Kokomo's softball team took a 2-1 lead after the road half of the second inning Tuesday afternoon, Western didn't flinch. The Panthers hadn't worked their way to the No. 2 ranking in Class 3A by straying from what had them unbeaten deep into April.
Western went to work at the plate, got a three-run double from Brynley Erb to take the lead for good in the bottom of the second, and rode a potent offense to a 12-3 victory over visiting Kokomo.
"That's a testament to the girls," Western coach Bart Miller said. "We've had a couple games this year where we've got behind. Fortunately, all those games, including [Tuesday] night, it was early in the game. It wasn't like we were pressing or anything. The girls understand it's a long game. Just stick with the process, stick with what's gotten us success, and the girls did a good job of that."
Erb had a monster game for Western (14-0). The sophomore No. 3 hitter went 3 for 3 with the three-run double in the second, a three-run homer in the fifth, and a walk. Hitting from the 8 spot, Garber was 3 for 4 with a two-run double in the fourth. And No. 2 hitter Hunt was 2 for 3 with an RBI triple, a walk, and four runs scored.
"Brynley Erb, what can you say about her?" Miller said of the state's 2023 RBI champion. "Single, double and a homer — she's something else at the plate, and in the field making some nice plays there at shortstop.
"Chloe Hunt, she's just a baller. Two hits, was able to get on base four times, and she's smart when she's on the bases. Top of the order did pretty good. Kylie Miller got on base three times and that's something we look for in a leadoff is get on base.
"Kami Garber with the big two-run double was huge for us. All the way through the lineup we've got girls that are very capable of driving in runs."
The Panthers put pressure on the Kats (8-6) and starting pitcher Taylor Reed with 10 hits and eight walks.
Bart Miller said what stood out to him was "the girls at the plate being able to adjust to the pitching. Reed, she moved the ball inside, outside, and I thought our girls did a good job overall adjusting to the pitches, especially with two-strike counts, shortening up everything and putting the ball in play."
Sienna Stone drove in Western's first run with a sac fly in the bottom of the first inning. Western led 4-2 after the second inning with Erb's bases-clearing double. Kokomo scored in the top of the fourth, but Western countered with five runs in the bottom of the fourth. Hunt's RBI triple and Garber's two-run double accounted for three runs, and two more scored on Kokomo's second error of the frame.
With the first error coming on the inning's leadoff batter, and the second with two outs, all Western's runs that inning were unearned.
"We know they're going to hit the ball, put the ball in play, but I think Taylor pitched excellent," Kokomo coach Candace Steve said. "We knew that we were going to hit, we just needed to make the plays and that's what we did not do.
"We did everything that we could offensively to keep rolling and keep us in the game. That was basically it — we didn't make the plays. Two plays took us out of this game."
Kokomo had seven hits and drew three walks. Kinley Martin gave the Kats life with a two-run homer in the top of the second to put the Kats ahead. After Western took a 4-2 lead, Kokomo cut the lead to a run on Dani Tate's RBI single in the fourth. Tate was 2 for 4 and Martin 1 for 1 with two walks.
"We did not give up even though we went down a lot, and we put in Emma [Lees] in that last inning and she pitched excellent, kept us in there, so I think the fight is what they're going to see all the time. We're always going to battle," Steve said.
"Good to have Kinley back [hitting]. We've been waiting for that."
Kylie Miller started and threw six frames to get the win for Western. She gave up six hits and three walks while striking out six. Chloe Linn threw the last inning, giving up a leadoff hit, then getting a ground out and closing the game with two strikeouts.
"We knew Kokomo would hit," Bart Miller said. "You look at their batting average, we knew they'd put the ball in play. I thought Kylie did a good job of hitting spots, moving the ball around, in and out, up and down, trying to keep them off balance.
"She didn't give up there [after Martin's homer] and it didn't rattle her. Very proud of her. And then Chloe Linn coming in the last inning, took her a batter to get everything inside of the zone, but once she did she looked lights out as well."
Tuesday's game had extra importance as it was Western's cancer awareness game. It's an annual event that is hitting particularly close to home now with two families of players.
"I want to thank the Kokomo community overall, not just Western, Russiaville, but Kokomo High School and their fans," Bart Miller said. "Cancer night, we lost a parent about a month ago. Joe Jeffers, father of Jocelyn Jeffers, lost his battle with brain cancer, and now we've got Jimbo Rayl [father of Rhys], who was diagnosed in August of '22 with lung cancer.
"We're trying to help out in the community, bring awareness to it and try to help out in any way we can, and the entire Kokomo community does a nice job of that, and we appreciate Kokomo High School and their help with that [Tuesday] night."
