Fayetteville Rallies Again and Again

FAYETTEVILLE — With their backs against the wall from the sixth inning until the deciding at-bat in the bottom of the 10th, Fayetteville continued to find a way to stay in its 7A/6AWest Conference softball battle with Rogers Heritage on Friday.

In the end, the Lady War Eagles helped Fayetteville’s cause with one too many defensive mistakes and the Lady Bulldogs took a hard fought 8-7 victory in 10 innings.

Rogers Heritage (11-9, 5-5 7A/6A-West) appeared in good shape when four consecutive hits in the top of the sixth inning — including a two-run single by Dasha Donahoe — produced a 4-1 lead at the time. But the Lady Bulldogs (15-5, 8-1) rallied with one run in the bottom of the sixth and two in the seventh, getting a two-out RBI single from Ashlye Pool to force extra innings.

The Lady War Eagles kept the pressure on with two runs in the top of the ninth, but Fayetteville answered with two in the bottom of the frame as Brittany Hoskins came through with another two-out RBI game-saver.

After Heritage took another lead in the top of the 10th on an Alee Martin in-field single, Fayetteville benefi ted from three Heritage errors to rally for the win.

Anne Mari Petrino scored on a wild throw past third base to tie the game. With the bases loaded and none out, Sydney Crockett followed with the winning run when a throw home on a fielder’s choice was dropped trying to get the force out at the plate.

“We drop two balls at home plate and we have seven errors in the game,” Heritage coach Tiffany Taylor said. “So that piles up, but that there at the end isn’t what beat us. It was errors all through the game, routine plays and letting them chip away and stay in the game.”

Hoskins finished 3-for-5 with three runs, and Pool was 4-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs. In the circle, Pool worked all 10 innings, finishing with 11 strikeouts to improve to 12-2.

“Our kids did a great job of overcoming my mistakes,” Fayetteville coach Jason Shirey said. “I got a couple of runners thrown out trying to make something happen and sometimes coach needs to stay out of the way.

“They showed a lot of resiliency, down to the last strike a couple of times. Hoskins with a big hit and Pool drives in a big run. Heritage played a whale of a ball game. Give them credit. This is one you look back on a say we got awfully lucky.”

FAYETTEVILLE 8, ROGERS HERITAGE 7 (10 innings)

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