Drury Softball Edges McCann Tech
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- It will not go in the books as yet another RBI for Drury's Brooke Bishop.
But it should.
In the bottom of the seventh with two out on Monday afternoon against McCann tech Bishop drew four straight balls, including a pitch that got to the backstop to allow Madison Saunders to score from third and give the Blue Devils a 5-4 win.
"She drew respect from them enough to try to walk her," Drury coach Michelle Darling said. "Unfortunately on their side, they couldn't catch that one.
"If I could give her an RBI, I would."
McCann Tech Robins Finnegan was doing everything she could to make sure Bishop, a .700 hitter this spring, did not get the game-winning RBI.
"The decision at the end to try to walk Bishop there, it was just out of respect to her," Finnegan said. "We had no choice.
"But we haven't really practiced walking anybody, so it didn't work out."
Bishop went 3-for-3- with a triple and Marley Brothers was 2-for-3 for Drury, which made the most of the six hits allowed by McCann Tech starter Nora Moser.
For Drury, senior Danielle Harnick earned the win on Senior Day, when she was recognized alongside classmates Heaven Mazza and Ky Hyde.
McCann Tech drew first blood, taking advantage of a pair of errors for an unearend run in the top of the second.
Emma Moser got things started by dropping a leadoff single into center field. After Drury recorded a pair of outs, Madison Clark singled to right, and a pair of throwing errors allowed Moser to come all the way around and make it a 1-0 game.
The Blue Devils took the lead in the bottom of the third.
Saunders worked a one-out walk and stole two bases ahead of Bishop's two-out RBI triple to right. Bishop scored on Brothers' single to put Drury ahead, 2-1.
In the bottom of the sixth, Bishop led off with a single, stole second and scored on Brothers' second hit of the game. Brothers later scored on a sacrifice fly from Norah Wood to give Drury a 4-1 lead.
The Hornets rallied with three hits for three runs in the top of the seventh.
With one out, Paige Meyette walked and Khloe Vanuni singled to left to get things started. Emily Glasier then reached on an error that loaded the bases.
A pair of singles from Kyrsten Gazoille-Adams and Emily Raschdorf and a fielder's choice allowed the Hornets to tie the game.
But Harnick limited the damage by getting a strikeout and a pop up to the circle to leave the bases loaded and get Drury to the bottom of the inning needing one run for the win.
"We came in [to the dugout] and we talked and remembered they're a young team," Darling said. "We just told them to settle and look ahead and that we needed runs right now.
"And they made it happen."
Saunders put the winning run on base by drawing a one-out walk. She then stole second and moved up on a ball to the backstop before scoring on another passed ball to end the game and the regular season for McCann Tech (4-12).
The Hornets look a lot different than they did at the start of the season, which included an 18-2 loss to Drury in a four-game losing streak to start the spring.
"From the first three games of the season to now, we've made tremendous improvement," Finnegan said. "I just think the more experience we get outside is going to help us for next year. They're young. I had five freshmen out there, so the more we play, the better they're going to get."
Drury (8-9) has one more regular season test, on Wednesday at Ware.