After jumping out to a 10-1 lead, the New Franklin Lady Bulldogs looked to have their sectional game against the St. Elizabeth Hornets all wrapped up. But the Hornets had a different idea as they reversed the tide and came back to win 11-10 in 10 innings. 

“I knew it was going to be hard,” said New Franklin head coach Ross Dowell. “If you look at our last six games, this was kind of where we were at. We were up big, didn’t quite finish the game, then let the other team back in it. We did it a Jamestown, we did it at Western, and Pilot Grove the first time, but, we could have very easily laid over in the sixth and lost it in the seventh, but we got it to 10 innings. So, they showed a lot of heart. It’s a good young bunch, we made some mistakes running, fielding, and our hitting obviously wasn’t there late. But we did our best, I thought.”

New Franklin started the game with singles by senior Abby Maupin and junior Carly Dorson. Maupin stole second with Dorson at the plate, then advanced to third on Dorson’s single and later scored on freshman Brynn Belstle’s sacrifice fly to right to take a 1-0 lead into the bottom half of the first.

The Hornets came back and tied the game with two doubles in their half of the inning.

The next two innings were owned by the Lady Bulldogs as they plated five runs in the second and four in the third to give them a 10-1 lead.

At that point, spirits were high on the first-base side of the diamond, as freshman ace Brynn Belstle was in the circle and had only given up three hits to that point and looked to be cruising with the nine-run lead. 

St. Elizabeth was not willing to give in, however, and just like their mascot’s namesake, the Hornets went to work adding one run in the fourth, two in the fifth, and five in the sixth.

New Franklin still held a 10-9 lead going into the seventh but had only managed a single in the fourth and one in the fifth. St. Elizabeth senior relief pitcher, Emily Wilde, struck out the final two batters in the bottom of the fifth before striking out the side in the sixth. 

The top of the seventh brought more of the same for the Lady Bulldogs as Wilde continued to deal strikes, catching the first two batters looking before Maupin bunted out in front of the plate only to have the catcher make a great play to throw her out.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Hornet leadoff batter was the no. 9 hitter, freshman Audrey Struemph, who singled to left-center and advanced to second on an error. The next batter, senior Tori Kemna then tripled to center scoring Struemph.

Even with an infield single by Wilde, Kemna remained on third as the Lady Bulldogs recorded two strikeouts and a flyout to first to keep the score tied at 10.

Neither team was able to scratch across a run in the eighth or ninth innings in spite of both teams putting runners on base.

In the top of the 10th, New Franklin’s Emersyn Eads led off with a walk on four straight pitches, but was picked off on an alert play by St. Elizabeth sophomore catcher Ella Lucas.

Wilde finished off the inning by striking out the next two batters.

The bottom of the 10th started out well for the Lady Bulldogs as the first Hornet grounded out to Belstle for the first out. 

The next batter, senior Elizabeth Struemph, reached on an error then moved to second on sophomore Lauren Struemph’s single. With runners on first and second, Audrey Struemph struck out but the New Franklin catcher could not hold on to the ball. The rules state that if there are less than two outs on a dropped third strike, and first base is occupied, the batter is out, even if the third strike is dropped. As was the case in this instance. 

The batter, more than likely just knowing there are times she could run on a dropped third strike, took off for first. The New Franklin catcher picked up the ball and seeing the batter running down the line, alertly fired to first. In the confusion, the runner on second, Elizabeth Streumph, took off for third, then upon seeing the ball being thrown to first sped home to score the winning run, resulting in a heartbreaking loss for the Lady Bulldogs. 

“Our freshman catcher did her job,” said Dowell. “Last week she won us a district, with that big backstop (at Glasgow’s John Donaldson Field), she hardly let a ball get by.”

Maupin finished the night going two-for-five and scoring three runs. Dorson and Bestle were also two-for-five and each drove in three runs. One of Bestle’s hits was a double. Sophomore Sophia Held, went two-for-four with a double and also added three RBI’s.

Junior Heaven-Lee Hundley contributed two hits and scored a run. Freshman Brooklyn Brown added two hits.

Junior Addy Salmon went one-for-five with an RBI.

Belstle pitched 9.1 innings, giving up 14 hits while striking out 14. Of the 184 pitches she threw, 125 were strikes. “We’ve got a freshman pitcher and catcher,” said Dowell. “They’re only going to get better. It’s a good problem to have.”

With the showing Wednesday, the Lady Bulldogs finished the season at 13-12.