Warrior Run wins slugfest with Bucktail 9-8
By Bees O’Brien
FARWELL, PA- Two of the best hitting teams in all of District 4 hooked up in a battle on Monday afternoon. Bucktail and 3A Warrior Run locked up in an exciting contest that would see 17 runs scored and a combined 22 hits. In the end it would be the Lady Defenders stunning the Lady Bucks 9-8, a victory that sent Warrior Run into the upcoming playoffs.
Warrior Run wasted little time getting their offense rolling and a huge 4-run top of the first quickly silenced the Farwell crowd, but back would come their Lady Bucks.
Bucktail’s Mak Wagner would reach base on an error and an Eva Sockman RBI single would score her.
Makenna Stone would continue to swing a hot bat for Bucktail with a single. Stone and Sockman would then score on a Kendall Wagner double. Bucktail now trailed 4-3 after one inning.
Lady Bucks’ pitcher Mak Wagner forced two straight outs and when she appeared to have gotten out of the inning on a strike out, a missed third strike would keep the Warrior Run inning alive. Warrior Run’s Abby Evans would then knock in two runs on a double to give Warrior Run the 6-3 lead, but again back would come the Lady Bucks.
Bucktail’s bottom of the second would begin when Kayla Probert was hit by a pitch. Lola English’s single and a throwing error would put both her and Probert in scoring position.
Haley Burrows would knock them both in on a single. Burrows would then score on an RBI single from Mak Wagner. Bucktail trailed 7-6 after two innings.
Neither team crossed the plate in the third inning.
In the top of the fourth Bucktail’s defense would step up. First it was senior Kayla Probert making a beautiful catch in left field and an infield fly out caught by Stone. Mak Wagner would finish off the inning by recording one of her 7 strike outs on the day.
English would step up and deliver another single and would score on a Mak Wagner infield hit to knot things up at 7-7.
The Lady Defenders would regain the lead in the fifth with a pair of runs, while Bucktail could only muster a single run in the bottom of the sixth to set the final.
Bucktail outhit Warrior 13 to 9, but they managed to strand a total of 6 baserunners in the contest.
Mak Wagner led Bucktail with 3 hits. Haley Burrows, Lola English, Eva Sockman and Kendall Wagner each collected a pair of hits. Makenna Stone and Matti Mason both finished with singles.
Warrior Run improved to 10-7 on the season, while Bucktail dropped to 10-4 overall. The Lady Bucks will next be in action Tuesday for Senior Day when they host District 9 1A playoff contender Oswayo Valley.
