The showdown between the two undefeated teams in the girls senior league turned into a stomping Tuesday night at Pete Holt Field.
Hall’s Backhoe laid claim to the top spot in the standings with a 22-5 victory over Letitia Lane Photography, improving the team to a perfect 4-0 near the midway point of the season.
Both teams have been on a collision course for Tuesday’s contest after winning their first three games, but the first of three meetings in the regular season wasn’t the instant classic most expected. The absence of Maddie Cantrell played a big part in tempering expectations.
Cantrell, who is 3-0 for Letitia Lane Photography and came into the contest leading the league in strikeouts with 27 in three starts, wasn’t able to play Tuesday. Without Cantrell in the circle, Hall’s Backhoe was able to take advantage of 24 walks en route to scoring the most runs by a team in a game this season.
On the other side, Ashton Whiles was dominant in the circle with 10 strikeouts – increasing her total to 27 – while allowing only one hit. Whiles took a no-hitter into the fourth inning and retired nine of the first 10 batters she faced.
The game started with Shonacye Rutledge admirably filling in for Cantrell in the circle for Letitia Lane Photography. Rutledge struck out two in the first inning, though one batter reached base on a passed ball third strike. That batter, Grace Rains, scored Hall’s Backhoe’s lone run in the first inning on Emily Mikkola’s groundout.
Rutledge and Erin Lane combined to stop another run from scoring when Whiles tried to take home on a passed ball, but Lane was able to scramble back and toss the ball to Rutledge at home for the out.
Whiles quickly brought her team back to the plate by striking out the side in the bottom of the first.
The wheels started to come off in the second inning when two more of Rutledge’s strikeouts reached base on passed balls. Six walks followed. Hall’s Backhoe used patience at the plate to score five runs in the frame as Alyssa Jones, Haylee Johnson, Rains, Whiles and Mikkola all came around.
Jones, Johnson and Blanton would use the same formula to score in the third inning. They were all issued free passes and scored on bases-loaded walks to help Hall’s Backhoe go ahead 9-0.
Carigan Aughinbaugh relieved Rutledge in the fourth inning, but Hall’s Backhoe was already rolling at the plate. Run-scoring singles by Whiles and Mikkola helped Hall’s Backhoe increase its lead to 14-0 going into the fourth inning – an advantage that would force Letitia Lane Photography to score five runs just to keep the game going.
That’s exactly what the home team did.
Jasmine Davenport started a fourth-inning rally for Letitia Lane Photography by drawing a walk. Rutledge, Savannah English and Icie Mae Craven all followed suit by watching ball four and taking their base. Craven’s walk scored Davenport to push their team’s first run across the board. Aughinbaugh would put three more on the scoreboard with one swing.
Aughinbaugh, one the league’s top hitters with a .778 batting average, blasted a three-run triple to the left-field gap that scored Rutledge, English and Craven. Aughinbaugh would take matters in her own hands to extend the game an extra inning when she swiped home on a passed ball to make it 14-5.
Pushing the game to a fifth inning only gave Hall’s Backhoe more time to score though.
Letitia Lane Photography started the fifth inning with four walks and an error to allow two runs to score. Rains and Whiles added RBI singles to make it 18-5 before Mikkola added the exclamation point to end the game.
Mikkola drilled an offering from Aughinbaugh to the left-field gap and circled the bases for a rare inside-the-park grand slam. Whiles would end the game by striking out the side in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Hall’s Backhoe will try to run its record to 5-0 next week when it takes on Ben Lomand Connect Tuesday, June 10. Letitia Lane Photography hopes to get back on track next Friday when it plays Tennessee Warehouse. Both games will start at 5:30 p.m.