B

Trailing 4-1 with no baserunners and two outs in the bottom of the third, the top four of West’s order was sitting at 2-for-7 and struggled to string hits together.

With a scoreless inning looming, five-hole hitter Lynlee McDaniel squeezed a single past the first baseman and into right field to keep the inning alive.

She was followed by Mackenzie Lucky, who turned an 0-2 count into an eight-pitch at-bat that ended with an RBI double.

Blayne Parker drew a full-count walk, and Alyssa Sizemore helped Lucky score by forcing an error after another lengthy at-bat. Sydney Mendez then drew a walk to load the bases, putting West back at the top of the order for a shot at turning the spark into a fire.

Eva Boudier stepped up to the plate and ripped a ball near the left-field wall, clearing the bases and giving West a 6-4. The Lady Trojans weren’t finished, eventually scoring nine runs in the inning to build a 10-4 advantage on the way to a 10-6 District 1-4A win.

“It was looking like another inning where we wouldn’t score,” head coach Chad Parker said. “We had a couple of walks that started it, and they were probably eight or nine-pitch walks, which is pretty awesome. We got the bases loaded, and Eva hits a huge triple. Then the girls after her Kara (Dyke), Kaylynn (Milton), Addie (Collins), they all stayed hot. Addie came up with two big hits and hit the ball well. Lynlee and Lucky have both been struggling. They both came up with two big hits tonight. So I was proud of them. They’ve been working hard on their swing, and just stayed with the good mechanical swing. And it worked out.

Boudier, Dyke and Collins eventually finished with a pair of hits, with Boudier driving in three runs and Collins two.

Lucky accounted for the Lady Trojans’ first two RBIs to provide the early spark. Dyke followed Boudier’s triple with an RBI single to send her home. Then Milton singled and Collins sent a pair home with a double, ending the big third inning how it started, with a single from McDaniel.

“It’s definitely contagious,” Parker said. “When one person gets going, our dugout gets up. They’re yelling like they haven’t yelled all year, and they were into it, backing each other up. So that was fantastic to see. We needed a good team win. We’ve been playing a lot, and coaches are exhausted; the players are exhausted. But that’s something we needed tonight.”

West has played eight games in the last seven days, and the fatigue began to show as the game went on and couldn’t keep the rally going. But one inning was all West needed to take the win.

Dyke started on the mound and collected the win. After allowing four early runs, Dyke went on to put up four consecutive deals to keep the West lead safe despite pitching her fifth game in a week. She eventually wore down in the seventh as West Ridge’s Kaylee Hicks homered and ended her night, but Lucky came in relief to help get the final three outs.

“She’s a little sore, pitched a lot of innings this year, and we had the tournament (last weekend),” Parker said. “If I had that to do over, I probably wouldn’t have played. But hey, she came out and battled, gave it all she got. She pitched it well. She hit spots really well. Tonight, they got a couple of hits, and then that last inning, I could tell she was pretty exhausted. So after two hard hits, we came in with Lucky, and she was able to shut them down.”

The win moved West to 19-10 on the year and 4-2 in District 1-4A. The Lady Trojans secured third place in the district regardless of the result of Tuesday’s rematch with West Ridge, meaning they avoid the district tournament play-in game.

West will look to continue the momentum in their last week of action before tournament season.

“We just got to build off that energy,” Parker said. “I told the girls that the third inning is what I know they’re capable of. They just got to believe in themselves and go out and execute.”