Shepherd walks off 8-inning thriller

For as comfortable as Georgetown was in the 1st game of the doubleheader against UPike on Friday, they were just as much on edge in game 2. The Tigers needed an extra inning as Stevie Shepherd continued her strong week to give the Tigers a 7-6, 8-inning win over Pikeville.

Early on, the game 2 story looked similar to game 1 with the Georgetown bats setting the tone. Mallory Myers delivered a RBI single to center, scoring Stevie Shepherd and giving the Tigers a 1-0 1st inning lead. UPike would respond in the 3rd, thanks to a 2-run homer from Alyssa Franklin to give the Bears their first lead of the day. Georgetown had the answer in the bottom of the inning. With 1 out, Kaylyn Barnett drew a walk and stole 2nd. Myers would again single up the middle to score Barnett and tie the game. Sarah Claxon would follow with a single to right, scoring Myers, who had stolen 2nd.

Pikeville asserted itself in the 5th inning. Trailing 5-2, the Bears would score 3 runs off Tigers' starter Emma Cummings and reliever Elle Prewitt to tie the game at 5. The runs forced Georgetown to put Sarah Claxon back on the mound. Claxon was able to stave off more Bears offense and send the game to the bottom of the 5th. Cassie Rannells led off the inning with a double and got to third thanks to a Peyton Beger sacrifice. Ashley Shelton followed with a line single to center, scoring Rannells and putting Georgetown back in front, 6-5.

Pikeville would scratch back with a game-tying single in the 6th. The Bears had a chance to go ahead in the 7th as they had runners at 1st and 2nd with only 1 out. Claxon fought back and got a foul out and line out to end the threat. Georgetown went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 7th, sending the game to an extra inning. UPike would go 1-2-3 in the top of the 8th, giving the Tigers a chance for its 2nd straight walk-off. With 1 out, Destiny Wallace drew a walk and would be sacrificed to 2nd by Maria Fratangelo. Wallace would then head to 3rd via a wild pitch. After a Kaylyn Barnett walk, Stevie Shepherd laced a single to right field to score Wallace and give the Tigers the Friday sweep, 7-6.

Georgetown had to fight for everything against UPike pitcher, CJ Alincic, who pitched the entire game, and finished throwing 168 pitches, striking out 9 Tigers along the way. Sarah Claxon picked up another win, by going the final 3.1 innings and aloowing just 1 run on 2 hits.