Indian Creek’s latest pursuit of what’s been an elusive first-ever sectional championship in softball came to an abrupt and heartbreaking conclusion Monday night.
Leading Danville by three runs through four innings in a first-round game at the Class 3A Indian Creek Sectional, the Braves couldn’t hang on and lost 10-9 in eight innings.
Indian Creek finished the season with a 13-8 record.
“It’s about as dead-even of a game as you could have,” Braves coach Gary Mitchell said. “It just came down to a couple breaks. That game could’ve gone either way.
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Click here to purchase photos from this gallery“We told the girls we were proud of them for fighting. They never gave up, and we had a really good season this year. Hate to go out on this number, but won our first ever WIC championship. This group set some marks this year. I’m proud of their heart, and proud of the way they played.”
Aided by three Danville errors, Indian Creek scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 4-2 lead.
Danville tied the score at 5-5 in the top of the fifth, but Indian Creek responded with two in the bottom half of the inning. Freshman Kayla Lemmon and junior leadoff hitter Kasey Wilhoit both produced singles as the Braves again surged ahead.
The Warriors tied it again with two more runs in the top of the seventh and scored three in the eighth. Braves junior Sydney Logsdon hit a two-run homer to center field in the bottom of the inning, but Indian Creek couldn’t plate the tying run.
Wilhoit and Logsdon each had three hits to lead the Braves in a losing effort, while Lemmon contributed two singles. Dori Knight pitched the entire game for Indian Creek, permitting 11 hits and striking out one.
