After knocking at the victory door in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, the varsity Clipper girls finally broke through in the 11th to edge visiting Lester Prairie 2-1 on Friday.
The Clippers are now off to a 5-0 start.
“I am just proud of the girls for hanging in there,” said head coach Rich Kern. “I was getting tired just coaching it. We were running out of gas but kept our heads up.”
With strong pitching and catching by both teams, it was a 0-0 standoff until the Bulldogs put up a run in the ninth. The Clippers matched it though to stay alive.
After a scoreless 10th and top of the 11th, Delaney Thompson sent a line drive into center field for a single. With Keira Schipper coming to the plate with doubles in her last two appearances, the Bulldogs issued her a semi-intentional walk. But Thompson stole second and scored the game winner when Kaitlyn Flowers lasered a single into left field for the win.
The Clippers had six hits. Schipper slammed a pair of doubles. Thompson poked a pair of singles. Jocelyn Kortuem and Flowers each had a single.
The Clippers struck out 17 times and walked three times. Ava Kluntz got hit by a pitch. They left five on base, swiped three bases and got caught stealing twice, both times at home plate.
Thompson tossed all 11 innings. The sophomore gave up eight hits and four walks while striking out 11. She stranded a dozen, including three in the fifth. From her spot behind the plate, Schipper threw out a runner trying to steal second, the Bulldogs’ only attempt at stealing.
As the game drifted into the late innings, the bats started to come alive for both teams.
Second in the order Thompson led off the bottom of the seventh with a grounded out, but next up Schipper airmailed a hit over the centerfielder’s head and stole third. But the next two batters struck out, and the Clippers came up empty.
The Clippers had another opportunity in the eighth when Anna Lamont led off with a walk and Kortuem came up with an infield single. But again, the next two batters went down swinging.
“We give credit to the bottom of our order,” Kern said, “because they were taking some good pitches.”
The Bulldogs finally broke up the scoring drought in the ninth when the leadoff batter bunted into a throwing error. The next batter singled, and the runner at second advanced on a sacrifice fly and scored on a single to lead 1-0.
The Clippers tied it up when they needed to but missed opportunities to win. Leading off the bottom of the ninth, top-of-the-order Taylor Wolf, the Clippers’ only southpaw, took four-straight balls for a free pass. Thompson sent a line drive into left field for a single, and Schipper doubled to bring in Wolf for the tying run.
But Thompson got tossed out at home when Flowers hit into a Fielder’s choice. Schipper, who took third on the play, got caught stealing home. It looked like she had her hands on the plate before the catcher tagged her back, but it was out number two. Flowers took third on an interference call, but a strikeout ended the inning.
“I was hesitant early but realized we had to play some small ball,” Kern said. “We tried stealing. We were hoping for a drop ball. The ump even said those were some of the closest plays he’s seen.”
The Clippers fought through four errors, three more than the Bulldogs. Each pitcher threw 154 pitches. Thompson threw 100 strikes and 54 balls while Lester Prairie’s pitcher threw 92 strikes and 62 balls. Neither catcher allowed a passed ball.
“Delaney hung in there,” Kern said. “We were going to switch her with Flowers, but she wanted the game, and then she ended up getting the game winning run, so hats off to her.”
“That was exhausting after pitching yesterday and Monday and Tuesday,” Thompson said.
The Clippers were missing a couple of their usual starters but freshmen Kluntz, Kortuem, Kiya Sohn and Cecelia Gair stepped up.
The Clippers host another non-conference game tonight: Waterville-Elysian-Morristown. The Bucs lost big to Randolph, won big over MVL and topped JWP 7-5.
Above: Shortstop Kaitlyn Flowers tags out a runner stealing. The throw came from catcher Keira Schipper.
