By Michael Lindsay
The Red Boiling Spring Lady Bulldogs kept their season alive in dramatic fashion Wednesday night as they overcame a 7-run deficit to defeat Clarkrange in the District 7A softball tournament, 15-14.
RBS trailed 8-1 early in the contest and 14-10 entering the bottom of the seventh before a 5-run rally capped off by a Nautica Goolsby double scored Kelsey Chapman to wrap up the 15-14 win.
“It seemed like it didn’t phase us,” said RBS head coach Jeffrey Link on the 4-run deficit entering the bottom of the 7th. “We knew we had the bottom of our lineup coming up, but in the last two games, they’ve really produced for us. We knew if we could get a couple of girls on base, we’d get back to the top of the lineup.”
Clarkrange opened Wednesday’s game strong as the Lady Buffaloes posted 5 runs in the top of the first inning and w more in the second to take a 7-0 lead.
“We were kind of surprised getting down 7-0 early, but we started talking about what we had to do each inning to chip away at that score,” Link said. “We cut down on some errors, but Clarkrange made some plays. We beat them twice in the regular season but knew they were a really good team. They’re very well-coached and have put a ton of work in. We knew this was going to be a fight.”
Red Boiling Springs got on the board in the bottom of the second as a solo homer from Caitlyne Szetela cut RBS’ deficit to 7-1.
Clarkrange posted a run in the top of the third to take an 8-1 lead before 3 Lady Bulldog runs in the bottom of the frame made the score 8-4 going to the fourth. A Chapman triple to right scored Madison Hooten before Chapman and Sara Link stole home later in the inning.
Clarkrange again scored one run in the top of the fourth before RBS responded with 2 in the bottom of the frame to make the score 9-6 entering the fifth.
After a scoreless top half of the fifth, RBS caught back up to the Lady Buffaloes in the bottom of the frame as a single from Stacey Bravo drove in Link before a Szetela grounder scored Goolsby and a Jenkins single scored Bravo, tying the game at 9 runs each.
“We’ve worked on our dugout mindset, and they’ve really jelled as a team and come around,” coach Link said. “We had three errors, which is too many, but it’s improving every game.”
Clarkrange rallied to score 4 runs in the top of the sixth to grab a 13-9 lead. A Kaci Sells double scored Kadie Sells and Lauren Choate before an Emily Winningham inside-the-park homer scored herself and Kaci Sells.
A Goolsby solo homer in the bottom of the sixth inning brought RBS within 3 runs at 13-10.
Clarkrange managed to tack on one run in the top of the seventh before Red Boiling Springs’ 5-run bottom of the seventh secured their 15-14 walk-off victory.
Red Boiling Springs is in action again Thursday morning at 11 a.m. against Clay County.
