Shrewsbury’s leadoff home run in the bottom of the first inning set the tone for Wyoming East which picked up an important 7-3 win over Midland Trail Tuesday in New Richmond.
Shrewsbury’s power was contagious as pitcher Carli Raye followed her with her first home run of the season, putting the hosts up 2-0 after a frame.
“Honestly it was my first home run ever so I’m really proud of myself,” Shrewsbury laughed. “I told myself to choke and poke ’cause I had two strikes on me already. So I choked and I hit a home run. The next time up to bat I said I can do it again and I did it again. I was just very proud of myself and really enjoyed it!”
While East’s offense rolled to the tune of 11 hits with three total home runs, Trail’s struggled with opportunities.
The Patriots left 10 runners on base, at least one in each inning.
“Yeah, that’s kind of been our Achilles heel,” Trail head coach Candace Young said. “We did it the other night at Sherman. We had, I think it was 13 left on, and that’s what I just kind of talked to them about there. We’re not capitalizing when we have things happen, you get your leadoff on top of the first inning and we can’t do anything with that. We’re not getting our bunts down, we’re not coming through with timely hits. We’re watching third strikes. So it’s been a little bit frustrating.. But it’s still those early season mess-ups because we haven’t had much of a season. But yeah, it’s frustrating.”
Ahead 2-0, Shrewsbury went to the opposite field for her second home run, another solo shot. Trail meanwhile took until the fourth inning to find its offense with Abby Parcell lighting a spark. A pinch-hit double scored Ava Campbell, setting up a prolific fifth inning for the Patriots.
Nevaeh Hall opened it with a single, advancing to second on an error. A Jessi Mooney RBI scored her with Stephanie Harrell later delivering the game-tying single that plated Mooney. But with just one out Trail couldn’t push the go-ahead run across the plate with a pair of runners on as Raye induced a pair of flyouts to limit the damage.
“They always had runners on in scoring position,” Raye said. “I just knew I had to get those outs and get us out of the jam because it’s a close game.”
Raye finished the game with 10 strikeouts, getting Patriots looking in crucial spots.
“The ump loved that outside corner,” Raye said. “I was making sure I was painting it. They weren’t swinging at it so I kept throwing it.”
Raye’s effort were rewarded in the bottom of the fifth where East retook the lead for good following a Midland Trail pitching change.
After Shrewsbury was intentionally walked to ope the frame, Raye immediately launched a double to score the go-ahead run. Mak Hatfield followed with a single to plate Raye and Reagan Bower capped the inning with an RBI double.
Kendra Cook added the final run in the sixth, scoring on a wild pitch.
“They came out to play and we came out kind of flat-footed,” Young said. “We weren’t really ready to play. I think the girls maybe thought back to when they came down to our place and we got on them real early. So I think maybe a little bit of underestimation there. The girl goes back-to-back home runs and centerfield’s a little bit deeper than the rest. That kind of takes the wind out of your sails for a minute, but I just think it was the difference and they were ready to play and I don’t necessarily know we were.”
Raye finished 4-for-4 at the plate with two RBI to lead the way for East. Parcell, Mooney and Harrell finished with a hit and RBI each in the loss.
