With both Tri-City United and Cleveland honoring their seniors before they squared off on Monday, it was all glitter and hearts and unicorns on the Clipper infield.
But with the first pitch, it was dirt and pounding and grinding out runs.
And, at the end of the two-hour battle, the Clippers avenged an ugly last-season loss and dominated the Titans 15-7.
“They threw three pretty darn good pitchers at us, but we just proved that we can hit good pitching,” head coach Mike Barten told his team afterwards. “Our defense was better than theirs. Our pitching was better than theirs. We beat them in every aspect of the game.”
Making a statement early, the Clippers jumped off to a 3-0 advantage. Leadoff batter Kaylee Karels sent a grounder between the feet of the fielder at second. Following up, Sophie Shouler got hit by a pitch.
Emily Kern, who, four-for-four at the plate, couldn’t have had a much better Senior Night, sent a hard grounder down the left-field line that rolled past the end of the fence for a ground-rule RBI double. Shouler and Kern both scored on balls that got by the catcher.
With two strike outs and two outs from the infield, Kern had a stellar first two innings, only allowing a single and a walk to the first eight batters of solid-hitting team.
But the number-nine batter’s hit was the first of seven the Titans would have in the third for a six-run rally that put them in front 6-3.
The Titans—who won a back-and-forth game 10-7 against the Clippers in Le Center last year after the Clippers made some mental errors—would only score once more though: a run in the fifth after back-to-back doubles, and the Clippers quickly pulled within a run in the bottom of the third when top-of the-lineup Karels led off with a walk.
From there, and for the second time in a row, Shouler got hit by a pitch, and Kern sent a line-drive to center field to score Karels. Catching the Titans off guard, Shouler, a junior speedster, stole home.
The Clippers took the lead in the fourth. With one out, Grayce Kortuem got a free pass and stole second. The Titans brought in heat on the mound, but her infield didn’t do the fresh pitcher any favors when the shortstop overthrew first on a Karels grounder, and Kortuem scored the tying run.
After Shouler flew out, Harley Connor thumped a grounder between short and third to score Karels, who had reached second on a passed ball. Following up, Kern arced a hit into short centerfield, and Cassandra Connor lined a missile through the left fielder for a two-RBI triple and a 9-6 Clipper advantage.
“The way we practice, we have the speed high off the pitching machine,” said Kortuem, one of the Clippers’ three seniors. “So last week we saw a slow pitcher, and it really messed with us, so we like them a little faster.”
The Orange & Black Nation added two more runs in the fifth. Laci Hollerich led off with a line drive to centerfield for a double and scored on passed balls. Emma Sweere took a pitch to her feet, stole second and scored on a Karels groundout.
The Clippers kept their foot on the gas pedal. Leading off the sixth, Harley Connor sent a grounder through the shortstop for an error, and Kern clobbered a double to the fence. Running for Connor, Ava Hahn stopped at third on the play, but that only made Cassandra Connor’s fourth home of the year more dramatic.
With the Titans deflated, Hollerich and Sweere each reached first on infield errors, and Hollerich crossed the dish when Kortuem sent a hard hit down the left field line and beyond the fence line for a ground-rule double.
Easing up in the top of the seventh, the usually flawless left side of the infield made a couple of errors, but senior Ashley Connor at second completed a groundout, Sweere at third threw across the infield for an out, and Kern whiffed the number-three batter to bag and tag the triumph.
“If we keep playing like this, we’re going to have a run at Caswell,” Barten told his team afterward.
The Clippers walked three times and, keeping the ball in play, struck out only four times. Kern led the offensive onslaught with three doubles and a single. Cassandra Connor had a triple and a homer. Hollerich, Sweere and Kortuem each banged a double.
Kern, who lasted all seven innings, struck out six, walked one, beaned one and allowed a dozen hits. TCU, 6-10 with the loss, committed five errors, two more than the Clippers.
Barten also honored his seniors, Kern, Ashley Connor and Kortuem (above) after the game, each receiving flowers and a gift.
“I wish you were freshmen. I wish I had you for four more years. Freshmen and sophomores, you have big shoes to fill. They have provided great leadership, do a lot of things outside the school and are very good academically, so pretty much everything a coach could ask for, that’s what these three are.”
Combined as “Coyotes,” Cleveland and the then independent Le Center players were teammates for a few years before separating in 2012. With Le Center combined with Montgomery-Lonsdale, they didn’t play each other until last year.
The Clippers will have another competitive rival game at home tonight when they take on state-ranked Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s.
TCU seniors.
Cassandra Connor reaches out to embrace her older sister Ashley during the Senior Night ceremony. “Even though I don’t say it enough, I look up to you so much,” the younger Connor said in her speech as she fought off tears. “You are my biggest role model, whether it is in softball or life in general.”
Laci Hollerich sets up to field a grounder at third.
Grayce Kortuem at first hits the dirt to field a grounder.
The Clippers are getting used to greeting Cassandra Connor as she makes the last leg of a trip around the bases.