Sandiettes Fall in Pitchers’ Duel
Leon 1 Grapeland 0
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
JEWETT – The Grapeland Sandiettes hit the road on Friday morning for an early game against the Leon Lady Cougars in Jewett.
It was a low-scoring affair, to say the least, as both pitchers – Jaycee Graham for Grapeland and Kassidy Cravey for Leon – dominated in the circle. A one-run third inning, however, did in the visiting Sandiettes as they fell by a final score of 1-0.
Kierra DeCluette led off the game for Grapeland and fanned on a full count. Makayla McCombs followed with a hard-hit single to right but was unable to advance as Cravey struck out both Kayleigh Lively and Jaycee Graham to retire the side.
Graham ran into trouble in the bottom of the first but managed to get out of a jam thanks to some stellar defense behind her. Leon’s Caitlyn Crane led with a double to right while Lanie Goolsby walked on four straight pitches to put runners on first and second with nobody out.
Jenna Bumpurs was up next and struck out on three consecutive pitches to bring Cravey to the plate. A wild pitch moved Crane to third and Goolsby to second as Cravey drew a walk to load the bases.
Bobbie Guyton was the next Lady Cougar to settle into the batter’s box and on an 0-1 pitch she grounded sharply to DeCluette at short. DeCluette picked the ball cleanly and fired home to catch Crane in a force-out.
Goolsby moved to third on the play and Cravey moved to second, but it was all for naught as Graham got Megan Page to swing at strike three to end the inning.
The second inning saw both teams go quietly as the only base-runner was Grapeland’s Cheyenne Lomax who drew a walk.
After the Sandiettes went down in order in the top of the third, the Lady Cougars eked out the only run of the game.
Crane led off the bottom of the third and grounded out to short. Goolsby followed with a single to center and came around to score when Bumpurs slapped a double into the left-centerfield gap. That was all Leon could muster as Guyton grounded out while Page swung and missed at strike three to end the inning.
The Sandiettes had a chance to tie things up in the top of the sixth but came up just short. DeCluette fanned to start the inning but McCombs followed and reached on an error. She moved to third on a double from Lively but could not get any further as Graham flew out to center. Jessi Cunningham was up next and hit a shot back to Cravey in the circle. Cravey managed to recover in time to gun down McCombs as she tried to score from third to end the Grapeland threat.
Neither team was able to cobble together any more offense as Leon held on to pick up the 1-0 win.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
