For Indian Creek center fielder Michaela Denney, it was sweet relief.
“Honestly, it’s nice to get an actual win under our belt. We’ve been fighting hard for it,” Denney said.
Denney’s two-run double helped lead the visiting Braves to a 7-6 victory at Edinburgh in nonconference softball action Tuesday night. Indian Creek (2-6) snapped a six-game losing streak, while Edinburgh’s record dropped to 8-6.
Denney is the team’s lone senior.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
“(Denney) got a good timely hit and gave us a three-run lead at the end of the game,” Indian Creek coach Gary Mitchell said. “Boy, we needed every run of it.”
With the score tied 4-4 in the seventh, the Braves loaded the bases on a hit and two errors. Sophomore Alley Fleener had a run-scoring single. Then Denney provided what proved to be the game-winner with a two-run double.
“I struggled the last game so it was nice to get back in my groove,” said Denney, who had two hits.
Edinburgh scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh, with both scoring when a throw got past the first baseman. With two runners left on, Indian Creek pitcher Fleener was able to get the final out.
"We shot ourselves in the foot on defense there at the end," Edinburgh coach Ben Taylor said. "They found some holes and we made them some holes."
Indian Creek scored three runs in the first inning on three hits and two walks. Junior Talea Bowling had the big hit with a two-run single.
Lancers designed hitter Catie Streeval’s two-run single sliced the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the first.
Edinburgh tied it in the third when a hit by pitch, stolen base and wild throw allowed a run to score. The Lancers then took a 4-3 lead in the fourth on Taylor Littiken’s run-scoring single. Bowling’s RBI single tied it at 4-4 in the fifth inning.
“They’ve got a good little team,” Mitchell said of Edinburgh. “We had to keep coming back. We got a little lead and they came back and took the lead. We had to keep fighting. It showed the kids had heart tonight.”
Braves sophomore Delaney Heminger started and Fleener came in to pitch the final two innings.
“She did a good job shutting the door on them,” Mitchell said. “It was a team victory. We had a lot of different contributions from players. Our left fielder (Kayla Lemmon) ran into the fence and make a heck of a catch."
Bowling had two singles, three runs batted in and reached on an error in the seventh before scoring the Braves’ fifth run.
“We just needed a little energy,” Bowling said. “Someone hit the ball and it kept going. We believed in each other.”
