Deep Run softball builds early lead, hangs on to defeat Godwin

It was a blowout in the making.

After three innings of softball action Friday night, Deep Run led Mills Godwin 10-0, and there was nothing the Eagles could do, it seemed, to prevent the visiting Wildcats from putting runs on the board in droves.

Aggressive at the plate and relentless on the base paths, Coach Tabby Dabney’s girls scored three times on four consecutive singles in the first inning and twice more on another three singles in the second.

Then in the third, they capitalized on five hits to push five more runs across, and before the home team had even batted around, the odds were good that the 10-run-lead-after-five-innings rule would soon bring this matchup of long-time West End rivals to a merciful conclusion.

Didn’t happen, though.

Sure, Deep Run went on to claim a harder-than-anticipated 11-6 victory, but as the final score indicates, what appeared early on to be a runaway evolved into anything but.

“This was a good lesson of when somebody throws punches, how are you going to respond,” Dabney said. “We responded really well and didn’t give up. It would have been really easy to get comfortable when we had a 10-run lead. 

“You saw that a little bit when they put up five on us (in the bottom of the third), but after that, they flipped the switch, remembered their standards and goals, and went right back to working hard.”

Emily Plank, Braelyn Baulsir, and Ella Pawlewizc, each of whom hit singles, scored the Wildcats’ first inning runs.

In the second, Mary Manning led off with a single and scored on Plank’s single to left. Black reached base on a single and ultimately scored on an infield out to put Deep Run (12-2) up 5-0.

“We definitely came out strong at the start of the first inning,” said Baulsir, a senior shortstop and James Madison commit. “That was our goal: to shut it down before they could build it up. That’s worked well for us in past games. 

“We were definitely aggressive, but it’s also, as the batter, sticking to your plan and not being thrown off by the pitcher.  And in the dugout, it’s keeping the energy high, because when the energy’s high, everybody feeds off it, and we feed off each other, so it’s like a domino effect. It leads to good things.”

Sophomore catcher Sadie Hutchens led off the Wildcats’ third by reaching base on an infield error.

So began the deluge that resulted in five more runs.

Black’s double to left scored Hutchens and Lindsey Cassell, who had drawn a base on balls.

Baulsir’s single to center sent Manning, who had reached on an error, and Black across the plate.

Pawlewicz’s single to the centerfield wall scored Baulsir to put Deep Run up 10-0.

“We had to keep putting the ball hard in play,” said Dabney. “We’d shifted our focus in practice and resorted back to station-to-station hitting. Just passing the bat and not being selfish. Not trying to do too much. Not trying to overpower a pitch.

“If we do that, it gives us a chance to keep putting runs on the board.”

Undaunted, the Eagles (9-5) rallied with five runs in the bottom of the third.

With one out, Adelynn Collins stroked a double to right, advanced to third on a passed ball, and scored on an infield out.

Now with two outs, Avery Fankhauser walked, and Mackenzie White followed with a home run onto the gravel trail behind the centerfield fence.

Gabby Coleman then drilled a double to right, and Emily Earle, next up, drove Coleman home with a double of her own, also to rightfield.

After Earle moved to third on a passed ball, Eliza Mason sent her home with a single to center.

The momentum, once the Wildcats’, was shifting.

It was a gut-check moment, to be sure. 

That was when Hutchens, their sophomore catcher, leapt into action, became more vocal, encouraged her pitchers, and did all within her power to steady the ship.

“When I see my pitchers getting a little stressed, I have to keep myself calm because if I’m calm, it’s easier for them to be calm,” she said. 

“What’s most important is not to overthrow and to keep everything simple and take deep breaths. I was telling them, ‘Believe in yourself, kid. You’ve got this. I’ve got your back. The team’s got your back.’”

Fankhauser run in the fifth cut Godwin’s deficit to 10-6, but the inning ended when Deep Run pulled off a pitcher (Plank)-to-first (Tate)-to-third (Black) double play.

The Wildcats added their final run in the seventh when Black, who walked, scored on an infield out.

Plank, who started in center field, entered the circle in relief in the third and, with the help of the Wildcats’ defense, held the Eagles in check.

The senior righthander pitched the final 4.1 innings, allowed just one run and one walk, and struck out 10.

Each of her pitches (rise ball, drop ball, curve, and changeup) was working well, she said, but her success came as much from her cerebral approach as from her physical prowess.

“My mindset was that I had to shut it down immediately and focus on hitting my spots and throwing strikes,” she said. “I just take deep breaths when I’m on the mound. That helps me slow down the pace of the game and control the tone of the game.

“There’s a meaning behind every pitch. Strikeouts are great, but I have so much trust in my team and my defense to get the outs.”