Lady Hornets walk-off over NEB on Senior Night

By: Ed Weaver  /  May 18, 2016

Sophomore Kailee Clymer hit a two-run walk-off double in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Wellsboro Softball team a 4-3 win over Northeast Bradford on Tuesday, May 17.

The Lady Hornets held a 1-0 lead as senior Darci Warriner drove home sophomore Sydney Tremper in the bottom of the third inning. The score remained that way until the top of the seventh, thanks to the dominant Wellsboro defense, but the Lady Panthers came alive in the top of the inning and to break the shutout.

NEB's Katie Boardman led off with a hit between third and short, then Hannah Dum moved her over to second on a sacrifice bunt. McKenna Wheaton then advanced Boardman to third on a long fly ball to center field that went over senior Jenny Young's head. One batter later, Taya Howell singled to score Boardman to tie it at 1-1.

NEB's Jaycee Brown got on base on a hit that got through the Wellsboro infield, then Megan Brown drove home Dana Koontz to give the Panthers a 2-1 lead. Gabby Slater brought Howell home after grounding out to second to make it 3-1. Wellsboro finally got out of the inning as sophomore Alyssa Yungwirth struck out Annie Williams.

Senior Sarah Ingerick got things rolling for the Hornets in the bottom of the seventh with a single, then senior Alexa Singer moved her to second, Yungwirth moved Ingerick to third on a shallow hit, then Ingerick finally scored as sophomore Brianne Keane got an infield hit. Then one at-bat later, Clymer came through for the game-winning hit. Clymer doubled to right field, scoring Singer and Yungwirth to give the Lady Hornets the walk-off win, and handing Northeast Bradford their first loss of the year.

"We had a brief meeting (going into the bottom of the seventh) and you look them straight in the eye and you tell them straight up, 'either you get it done or you're going to lose the game' and they decided to get it done," said head coach Greg Carr. "I have four great captains who show tremendous leadership and the underclassmen have risen up to that their expectations and this is what you get as a result of having such great captains."

"I think we were definitely confident and knew we could do it," Ingerick said of trailing 3-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh.

"While we were confident I think there was kind of an 'oh crap' moment and we really have to go here," Singer said.

Yungwirth led the Lady Hornets with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate and Tremper and Ingerick went 2-for-4. Singer, Keane, Young, Clymer, and Warriner all had hits on the night, with Clymer's and Warriner's being doubles. Keane and Warriner each finished with RBI's.

Yungwirth pitched a complete game on the mound, giving up 3 runs (all earned) on 8 hits with 8 strikeouts and 2 walks on 131 pitches. The win is her eighth of the year and second in as many nights.

The win improves the Division 1 champion's record to 15-3. The team will be back in action on Thursday, May 19 as they host South Williamsport.