“I’m just happy for the kids,” said Big Blue coach Steve Heckman, whose team elevated its record to 7-12 overall and 4-11 in the Greater Miami Conference. “Hamilton-Middletown is still a rivalry, and with them being much improved, that’s a good win to beat them.”
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It’s been far short of a spectacular season for HHS, but Monday marked its second win in three games as Big Blue handed Lakota East a surprising 2-1 defeat last Thursday.
Davis threw six solid innings and Griffie put Middletown down 1-2-3 in the seventh to deflate the Middies’ hopes for their first winning season since 2007.
“We’re not going down without a fight,” Griffie said. “It’s still a great season. I think we’re having a lot of fun. We lost a lot of seniors last year that helped us a lot, but I feel the ones that we have now are the backbone of the team. But we also have a lot of help.”
It was a frustrating setback for Middletown, which slipped to 11-12, 5-10.
Sophomore Carly Metcalf, a transfer from Madison, fired a two-hitter with 12 strikeouts, but she issued seven walks. Every Big Blue runner that crossed the plate reached base on a free pass.
“Walks aren’t usually the issue. Usually defense is more the problem,” Middies coach Tyler Callahan said. “But I think people underestimate Hamilton. Carly’s spots were off today, but they were also more patient.
“I think coming in from the last game, they saw the ball better today. They weren’t biting on the curveball. They weren’t biting on the rise ball. They executed their game plan and caught us off guard. We need to execute better at the plate too. We just fell today.”
Middletown took a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Metcalf plated Arianna Layne with a single, while Taylor Underhill bunted for a single and scored on a wild pitch.
No. 8 hitter Cora Sandlin had both Big Blue hits, a single in the second and a double in the fourth, but the hosts didn’t score in either of those innings.
Ashley Brann walked three times and came home on a passed ball in the third and a wild pitch in the fifth. Mya Halcomb scored the winning run on a fifth-inning RBI ground out by Hailey Reynolds.
Davis doesn’t throw with a lot of speed, but she kept the ball around the plate all day and totaled two strikeouts and three walks. Griffie’s perfect seventh was capped off by HHS center fielder Ashley Halcomb’s diving catch to rob Layne.
“Me and Ashley have been together four years, and I know I can rely on her for anything,” Griffie said. “It was really a good comeback for us. I feel like we all worked together better than we did last time (a 5-1 loss at Middletown on April 9).”
Heckman noted that Ashley Halcomb is a converted catcher.
“We were really struggling in the outfield at the beginning of the year, and Ashley was very honest,” Heckman said. “She said, ‘I’ll go out there. I’ll do it.’ And man, she’s been outstanding. She’s made diving catch after diving catch, and it gets contagious. I appreciate her leadership in taking that role out there.”
Griffie has been dealing with shoulder and forearm problems. That was part of Heckman’s decision to start Davis in the circle.
“When Mallory keeps it down and changes speeds a little bit, she gets a lot of fly balls, pop-ups and mishits, and people reach,” the Hamilton coach said. “That’s her game, and she played it really well today.”
Heckman said he was looking forward to honoring his six seniors — Natalie Francis, Brianna Betz, Ashley Halcomb, Peyton Colquhoun, Griffie and Brann — at Tuesday’s Senior Day game against Princeton.
“I’m proud of those six kids that have stuck with this,” said Heckman, in his 26th season at the Big Blue helm. “It hasn’t been easy, and it hasn’t always been fun. Sometimes you get your brains kicked in, and to keep coming back and putting the uniform back on and representing our school, it means a lot. I’ve had a couple coaches tell me that our kids do things the right way. I appreciate that.”
The Middies will return home to face Oak Hills on Tuesday. Callahan said Monday’s loss stung, but the third-year coach believes the program will continue to progress. Middletown started three freshmen and two sophomores against Big Blue.
“That’s a tribute to what is to come for Middletown,” Callahan said. “I do think we’ve underachieved a little bit. We’ve let a couple slip away that we should’ve had, but we’ve played a tough schedule. I think we’re a really good softball team. We can have a winning season, but the room for error is zero.”
Middletown 002-000-0—2-4-1
Hamilton 001-020-x—3-2-0
WP — Mallory Davis (2-0); LP — Carly Metcalf (10-10); S — Autumn Griffie (2). Records: M 11-12, 5-10 GMC; H 7-12, 4-11 GMC
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