With gusting winds and temperatures dropping and Van Buren trailing big, it may have been easy for the Lady Pointers to call it a day.

They weren’t ready to go home.

Van Buren fought back from a 6-1 deficit entering the top of the sixth and tied the score with two outs in the top of the seventh in Tuesday’s game against Southside. The Lady Pointers then scored twice in the top of the eighth before holding on for an 8-7 win at Evans Boys and Girls Club.

“Down 6-1, they (Southside) had a four-run inning (in the fourth) where we committed three errors and we really didn’t have much life to us,” Van Buren coach Andy Williams said. “Then we made some good plays on defense to get out of the (fifth) inning and when we came in, I said, ‘Take your defense to your offense, now you made a good inning so let’s build on that.’

“I’m not a genius, that’s just kids that play a lot of ball for us and they know how to win.”

Van Buren (3-1) began its comeback with four runs in the top of the sixth. The Lady Pointers did have two runners on with one out, but Southside pitcher Cailin Massey retired the next two batters to keep the Mavericks’ lead intact.

Massey then retired the first two batters she faced to start the top of the seventh.

Richelle Stacy, Massey’s pitching counterpart, managed to keep the game going with a single to right. Williams then sent in Ashlynn Gipson to pinch run, and she immediately went to second on a passed ball.

The next batter, nine-hole hitter Hannah Brewer, then flared a single into shallow center, allowing Gipson to score the tying run.


“Big ones, big ones,” Williams said. “Our nine hole came through, and Hannah’s been hitting the ball.

“Hannah’s not batting ninth because she’s our worst hitter, not even close. She had two or three hits (Monday in a win at Northside), but to come through there with a two-out single with a nice flare to tie it up, that was huge.”

The Lady Pointers then put two runs up in the top of the eighth. Natalie Scherrey, who started on second base to begin the inning under the tiebreaker rule, came around to score on a throwing error; then Van Buren got an insurance run on an RBI single by Alexcia Trejo.

Southside (4-4) got to within a run in its half of the eighth on a two-out error and had the tying run at third. But Lady Pointer shortstop Caroline Davis made a diving play on a batted ball and threw to first in a very close play for the final out.

Stacy ended up with the win, giving up four earned runs. She also walked one and struck out three.

Whitney Ellis, Davis and Trejo each had two-hit games, and the three combined to drive in four runs.

The Mavericks got two-hit games from Massey, Hannah Hogue and Mackenzie Farrar, with Hogue and Farrar each getting RBIs. Piper Morgan drove in three runs as well.
