MONROVIA — Monrovia was not going to let Southmont sophomore Ella Barry beat them with her bat. On Tuesday, the Bulldogs intentionally walked the slugger four times out of Barry’s five at-bats.
However, two Mounties, Kenzi Clate and Emily Simpson, made the home team pay for their decision, allowing South to took down Monrovia 7-4.
Clate was 3-for-5 batting, had three RBI and scored a run batting behind Barry in the Mountie lineup. Simpson, batting sixth in the lineup, had two hits which included a bases loaded double that drove in two runs late in the game.
Mountie Coach Dan Taylor complimented Clate and Simpson after the game.
“If they were going to walk Ella, we need Kinzie Clate and Emily Simpson to be big for us and today they came through,” Taylor said.
Clate was not surprised that she would find herself batting after the opponents walked Barry. After all, the same scenario happened often in last week’s sectional.
“I figured after the sectional they (Monrovia) would put Ella on because she is a great hitter,” Clate said. “I prepared myself while sitting in the dugout. I got a lot of out balls and that was what I was looking for.”
Southmont broke a 0-0 tie in the bottom of the third inning. The Mounties loaded the bases due to a leadoff single by Kaylee Turner; a walk issued to MaKinzie Wood; and an intentional walk to Barry. Clate responded with a double that knocked in Turner and Wood to put her team up 2-0. Next Simpson had an RBI single followed by Sammie Crosby’s RBI single. When the dust settled Southmont led 4-0 and would never trail in the remainder of the game.
Despite the win, Taylor said the Mounties did not play their best softball. In fact, Southmont left 12 runners on base.
“We did not play our best game, but we were good enough to win against a good team,” Taylor said. “We left a bunch of runners on base, but the good and the bad about that was we left a lot of runners on base. That means we had a lot of girls doing good things.”
Monrovia started making a comeback by scoring four runs in innings four, five and six to knot the score at 4-4.
Southmont didn’t wait long to respond and scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning all with two outs. Hits by Clate and Simpson provided the big blasts in the inning.
Barry shut down the Bulldogs in their final at-bat striking out the last Monrovia batter with two runners on base to start the victory celebration.
Barry allowed 10 hits in the game and surrendered four runs, two of which were earned. The righty struck out 11 and walked one.
Southmont had 10 hits in the contest.
Southmont (19-5) will travel Saturday to the Forest Park Semi-State in Ferdinand to play Tecumseh (26-4) at 1 p.m. The 11 a.m. game will feature Eastern Hancock (19-6) and Salem (13-9).
