In her varsity debut, Lilly Lamont (above) pitched a solid nine innings in Lester Prairie last Thursday, but after she departed in the 11th, the Bulldogs scored two runs to walk off with a 7-6 win.
“With the heat last Thursday, Hailey Plonsky was feeling a little under the weather, and Lilly came in and pitched nine innings of fantastic softball,” said head coach Mike Barten. “She threw a lot of pitches, but it was drastically more strikes than balls, and that’s what you ask: just be around the plate, and she was phenomenal.”
Hoping to continue where she left off, Lamont got the start against Lake Crystal/Wellcome Memorial on Tuesday in the Clippers’ home opener, but the perennial Valley powerhouse Knights rocked the junior for 10 hits en route to a 12-1 triumph.
A home run in the second put the Knights up 1-0. After three-straight singles and a triple, they led 4-0. With five more hits in the third, they went in front 8-0 before piling on three more runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth.
“We talked about this, where Lake Crystal has a great summer program,” Barten said. “They play a ton of softball year-round, and we don’t, but we will. They are tough throughout the lineup.”
The Clippers’ lone run came in the fourth when the Knights let a Cassandra Connor fly drop into the outfield. Laci Hollerich hit into a fielder’s choice, advanced on an Emma Sweere ground out and scored when Keira Schipper dropped a hit just inside the left field line.
Lamont gave up 10 hits, struck out three and walked one. In the circle for innings four and five, Plonsky surrendered six hits, walked one and struck out three.
“I told our pitchers great job because it could have easily been 20-1,” Barten said. “They just hit throughout the lineup.”
The Clippers whiffed nine times and had two other hits. Harley Connor led off the third with a hit to the center field fence for a double, and, with two outs, top-of-the-order Sophie Shouler dropped a hit near the right field line to advance Connor to third before the frame ended on a strikeout.
The Clippers errored three times, two more than LCWM.
“It’s one of those things,” Barten said. “We’ll bounce back.”
In Lester Prairie, the Bulldogs, taking advantage of three hits, two walks and an error, scored five runs in the bottom of the second to go up 5-0.
Lamont took over for starter Plonsky to face the first batter in the third inning and didn’t allow a run in the rest of her tenure in the circle.
Meanwhile, the Clipper offense battled back, scoring a run in the third when Harley Connor got on board on an outfield error and scored on a Shouler single.
The Clippers tied the game in the seventh. Leading off, Sweere got hit by a pitch, Harley Connor got on board on an outfield error, Lexy Waldron singled, Shouler got on base on an error, and Cassandra Connor doubled to knot the game 5-5.
Into the second extra frame, Waldron and Shouler hit back-to-back singles for a run that put the Clippers up 6-5.
But Lester Prairie’s top of the order led off the 11th with a single, and Lamont walked two to load the bases. With no outs, Delaney Thompson took over, but on a 3-1 count, the batter she faced singled to score two runs and secure her team the win.
“Lilly gave us a chance to come back, and we took the lead and should have gotten her the win and couldn’t quite close it, but that was one of the guttier efforts I’ve seen out of a player,” Barton said.
“It was definitely challenging, but we came out and did the best we could,” said Lamont, who was on the JV team last season.
Shouler led the offense with a trio of singles. Cassandra Connor had a double and a single. Waldron hit two singles. Greta Hahn hit a double. Hollerich hit a single.
The Clippers struck out seven times and never walked. The Bulldogs suffered six errors but twisted two double plays.
In her two innings, Plonsky struck out three walked three and gave up three hits. Lamont whiffed seven, walked four, allowed five hits and beaned one. The Clippers committed two errors.
With Thursday’s game postponed, the Clippers are scheduled to be back in action on Tuesday when they host Randolph.
Senior shortstop Sophie Shouler dials in on a grounder.
Senior Kaylee Karels grabs a fly to center.
Sophie Shouler goes up to stop a putout throw to second. Backing her up is second baseman Greta Hahn.