New Richmond – Wyoming East hurler Carli Raye found herself in a pair of high-leverage situations against Bluefield, but the hurler came out on top both times.
Raye worked out of a pair of jams in the first and seventh innings Wednesday as the Lady Warriors squeaked out a 10-9 win over Bluefield in New Richmond.
With the bases loaded, one run across and just one out secured in the first inning, Raye retried the next two batters to limit the damage. In the top of the seventh with a pair of runners in scoring position she induced a fly out to cement the victory.
“This was a really big game and my hitting was terrible,” Raye said. “I knew I had to come out here and pitch good and I was in some difficult situations but you’ve just got to stay focused and pitch the ball. We had two outs and I knew that go-ahead run was on second so I tried to pitch the ball down. I couldn’t let her get that hit. I had to pitch a strike.”
Bluefield’s bats applied pressure throughout the evening, out-hitting East 8-4 and watching the Lady Warriors commit 12 errors, but the Beavers issued eight walks and hit two more batters to offset those advantages.
“Our starting pitcher tonight is not a pitcher but she’s willing to help out where she can,” Bluefield head coach Justin Hall said. “We held our own there for a little bit. We had somebody behind the plate, it’s her first year ever catching so we’re working on stuff and building for the future, not just now.”
The visitors struck first putting three consecutive batters on via errors, plating a run off of it when Audra Rockness came home on an error at third.
Raye limited the damage before teammate Alivia Monroe atoned for a pair of errors in the bottom of the frame, launching a two-run home run to put East ahead 3-1 after an inning. Bluefield responded by taking advantage of three more errors in the second inning with Rockness and Sophie Hall driving in runs in a four-run frame.
The Beavers expanded the lead to 6-4 heading into the bottom of the third before their offense cooled. At that point East got hot.
Monroe drew a leadoff walk to set the stage as four consecutive Lady Warriors reached to open the bottom half of the frame. Olivia Vint started the charge with a two-run single and Reagan Bower came around to score on a pair of wild pitches.
The outburst put East ahead 8-6 with a pair of insurance runs coming in the fifth and sixth innings.
“We started thinking too much,” Hall said. “I think we got in the box thinking instead of getting in there ready to hit the ball. They kind of brought that back around in the last inning. We went up to the plate expecting to hit. We got in a little bit of a lull where we didn’t expect to hit – or I don’t know if we didn’t expect to hit but our headspace wasn’t right to hit.”
Another East error kicked off Bluefield’s seventh-inning rally with Olivia White reaching to open the frame. A hit batsman and a single loaded the bases for Rockness who reached on an error, allowing a runner to score. A pop-out secured the second out before all-stater Maddie Lawson doubled down the third base line to plate two more runs. But Raye induced a flyout to secure the victory.
The win secures a season sweep of the Beavers for Wyoming East and should put it in position to take the No. 1 seed in the section.
“This should lock up the No. 1 seed for us,” East head coach Doc Warner said. “We beat everybody else. I don’t care who we play. I’ve been No. 1 and 4. But it doesn’t matter. We’re gonna play if Carli pitches good in the games.”
Vint and Monroe led East with two RBI each while Raye allowed just two earned runs. Rockness led Bluefield with two hits and three RBI.
