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Stubbs leads Reserve to title
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Western Reserve’s Sissy Stubbs begins pitching in the first inning of Tuesday’s ITCL showdown against Jackson- Milton. Stubbs pitched the Blue Devils to a 7-4 victory.
By BRANDON JUDEH
North Jackson
A bitter rivalry was settled between the Western Reserve and Jackson-Milton softball teams on Tuesday and so was the championship of the Inter Tri-County League.
The Blue Devils won 7-4 and clinched their fourth straight title thanks to fundamental defense and a great pitching performance by senior Sissy Stubbs.
Stubbs stumped the usually powerful Jackson-Milton (21-3, 12-2) offense by scattering four hits over seven innings and at one point she retired eight consecutive batters.
“My game plan was to go in and get ahead of each batter, pitch low and out and let my defense do the work,” said Stubbs.
Her defense did the majority of the work, causing 20 of the 21 possible outs and committing only one error.
“It’s extremely special for me to be on the mound and get the win in the [ITCL] clinching game. I couldn’t ask for a better way to end my career,” added Stubbs.
Western Reserve (17-4, 14-0), which has won 66 consecutive league games, started with a two-out rally in the first inning.
An RBI single by Marley Oles followed by April Lude scoring on a throwing error gave the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead.
The third inning proved to be the turning point of the game for both teams as Jackson-Milton committed three errors that led to four Blue Devil runs, including a two-run double by Alexis Little that made it 6-0.
Jackson-Milton, however, would not go quietly.
In the bottom of the third Shannon Ricketson crushed an RBI triple into right-center field to put the Lady Jays on the board.
In the fifth inning the Bluejays got three consecutive walks that led to a bases loaded situation with no outs.
Ricketson knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly and Paije Kiraly helped her own cause with a two-run double to cut the lead to 7-4.
Stubbs then retired the final seven batters.
“They hit early in the game, we hit late in the game,” said Jackson-Milton coach Kelly Snowden.
“Hopefully we will get Western Reserve for a third time in the playoffs, it’s hard to beat a team three times, we would welcome the challenge.”
Kiraly settled down after a rocky start and kept her team in the game, thanks to her bat and pitching arm.
Now that the Blue Devils have an ITCL championship under their belt, Coach Laura Amero feels confident about her team’s chances heading in to the tournament.
“There has been a great weight lifted off of our shoulders today and if we keep hitting the way we are right now I think we will be pretty successful in the tournament,” she said Amero.
Little went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and Alexis Lude had hits.
For Jackson-Milton, Kiraly and Ricketson each drove in two runs.