PCM softball outlasts Newton in back-and-forth affair

Seven of the first 11 batters from the PCM softball team registered an out in the air on Monday.

When Addi Hudnut came to the plate in the seventh inning of a tie game at H.A. Lynn Softball Field, her No. 1 priority was hitting the ball hard on the ground somewhere.

That’s exactly what she did and her RBI single up the middle with two outs drove in the Mustangs’ winning run during their 9-8 road win over Class 4A Newton.

“I was just trying to cut it in half,” Hudnut said. “We’ve struggled with popping the ball up at times so I wanted to make sure I didn’t get under it too much. Anything hard on the ground was perfect, and I got lucky with that one tonight.”

It was a three-hit night for Hudnut, and the Mustangs collected 14 hits in all. That helped counter an unusual off night for Class 3A No. 4 PCM in the circle and on the field.

The win by the Mustangs spoiled Newton’s Senior Night. The hosts recognized Chloe Swank and Paige Benson before the game.

The regular-season finale for both teams was a true back-and-forth affair.

Newton led 2-0, trailed 4-2, led 6-4 and trailed 8-6 before tying it with two runs in the top of the sixth.

Leileigh Hammons clubbed a two-run homer in the second to give the Cardinals (8-20) an early lead and Mack Sims slugged a two-run home run to the opposite field in Newton’s four-run sixth.

But the Mustangs countered Newton with three in the fourth that put them up 3-2, extended the lead with a run in the fifth and then used a four-run sixth to go back in front.

“We fought back all game,” Newton head softball coach Kory Leiker said. “It might have taken us all year to figure it out, but if we did figure it out, this is the time to do it. They did a great job. This is the most complete game they’ve played as a team.”

PCM (22-4) came into the game with one of the top earned run averages in 3A and the top fielding percentage in the class.

But the Mustangs’ trio of pitchers battled all night to get through each inning and the defense committed three errors behind them.

The bats were there to pick up the slack though as Hudnut and Tori Lindsay each finished with three hits and Libby Winters, Hadley Millang, Camden Webb and Kyra Naeve all had two hits.

“We didn’t play our best as pitchers or defensively, but we kept responding and kept answering back,” PCM head softball coach Shaun Hudnut said. “We had a lot of big hits, but (Addi Hudnut) coming up with the game-winning hit with two outs in the seventh was huge and it put the pressure on them to have to score in the bottom of the inning.”

Rylee Parsons started the game in the circle for PCM. She tossed the first three innings and allowed two earned runs on three hits and struck out two.

The first hit she gave up was a single by Ava Williams that dropped just in front of Winters in center field. Hammons followed with a two-run blast to put Newton in front. It was Hammons’ sixth dinger of the season.

Webb took the next two innings and struggled a bit with control. She walked two in the fourth but also fanned two to keep the Cardinals off the scoreboard.

But Newton plated four runs in the fifth to go back in front 6-4. BrookLynn Britton started the inning with a walk. Mack Sims followed her team-leading seventh homer of the summer, an opposite shot to right field.

“Our pitchers were behind in counts too many times,” Coach Hudnut said. “Newton has a good top half of the order, and when you’re behind in counts, they have some girls who can do damage.”

The inning also featured singles by Kenzly Brant and Ava Williams, an RBI single by Hammons and Swank scored on an error.

Naeve’s diving catch near the fair line in right field with runners on first and second saved another run from scoring though, and Webb retired the next two to get out of the jam.

Lexi Frehse pinch-hit to open the bottom of the sixth. She swung through the first two pitches from new pitcher Winters but wound up on first after taking a walk on 13 pitches.

Britton returned to the game as Frehse’s courtesy runner and scored on an RBI from Brant.

Sims reached on an error and scored on an error to tie the game, but Winters induced a ground ball that resulted in a 4-6-3 double play to end Newton’s threat.

“Lexi Frehse’s at-bat was big for her,” Leiker said. “To start 0-2 and take a walk on 13 pitches later was awesome to see. She kept fighting and fighting and that started a rally.”

Webb surrendered four runs — three earned — on four hits and three walks with two strikeouts in two innings.

Winters (3-1) was in line for the save when she entered in the sixth but wound up with the win after allowing two runs — zero earned — on one hit and one walk in her two innings.

Winters got two ground balls in the seventh and caught a line drive back at her for the second out in the frame.

Viana Vasseau delivered a pinch-hit two-out single in the seventh, but a ground ball to first ended the game.

“I’m overall happy with everything I saw tonight,” Leiker said. “If we played like this early on in the season, the season is probably a whole different ball game.”

Hammons (8-13) pitched all seven innings for the Cardinals and took the loss after allowing nine earned runs on 14 hits with one strikeout.

She allowed a lead-off single to Lindsay in the first and an infield single to Addi Hudnut in the third.

PCM got on the board in the third. Winters delivered a one-out single and then moved to second on a fielder’s choice. Millang put the Mustangs on the board with an RBI single and Lillian Humpal tied the game when she scored on a Newton error.

Webb’s RBI single put the Mustangs in front, 3-2, but Hammons got out of the jam with a pop out to third base. Two of Newton’s three errors were committed in the fourth.

Lindsay singled to lead off the fifth. Winters extended the lead to 4-2 with a one-out RBI single, but she was stranded on third after a fly out to center.

PCM’s four-run sixth started with consecutive singles by Webb, Naeve and Addi Hudnut.

Webb’s courtesy runner, Ryan DeVore, scored on an error, Hudnut scored on a wild pitch and Naeve was plated on an RBI single by Lindsay. Winters put the Mustangs in front 8-6 with an RBI sacrifice fly to left field.

“We work really well under pressure and know how to come up with clutch moments when we need them,” Addi Hudnut said. “That’s something I admire about this team. We just grind and don’t get down on ourselves easily. We’re in it until the very end, and that’s something we preach.”

Millang opened the top of the seventh with a single. Her pinch runner, DeVore, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Webb.

After a fly ball out to center field, Addi Hudnut came through with the game-winning RBI single to put PCM back in front, 9-8.

Addi Hudnut and Lindsay both finished with three hits, one run and one RBI. Lindsay leads PCM with 32 runs and has a team-best .521 on-base percentage.

Winters totaled two hits, one double, one run and two RBIs, Millang collected two hits, one run and one RBI, Webb added two hits and one RBI and Naeve chipped in two hits and one run.

Winters leads the Mustangs with a .494 batting average and has a team-best 58 total bases. Naeve is batting .443 from the No. 7 spot in the lineup.

DeVore scored two runs, Lillian Knapp had one run and one RBI and Humpal scored one run.

“We’ve been working on some basics offensively,” Coach Hudnut said. “We can sometimes get leaky with our barrels, and we tried to cut the ball in half. I think we cut down the fly balls after the third inning and started to hit line drives on the ground. That was the difference for us late in the game.”

The Mustangs are 4-2 against Newton since 2012. PCM has won back-to-back games in the series.

After a three-error night in the field, PCM has 18 errors in 26 games this season. The Mustangs still lead 3A with a fielding percentage of .973.

“We had to do some shuffling around because of pinch hitting and had girls in spots they aren’t accustomed to during the season and there’s an understanding there, but when balls get hit to us we have to make the plays,” Coach Hudnut said.

Sims, Williams and Hammons all had two hits to lead Newton. Sims doubled, homered, scored two runs, had two RBIs and stole one base, Hammons homered, scored one run and totaled three RBIs and Williams walked once and scored one run.

Sims leads the Cardinals with a .467 batting average and a .574 OBP. She has a team-best seven homers, 34 runs, seven doubles, 65 total bases and 15 steals.

Williams is batting .400 and has an OBP of .571.

Brant totaled one hit, one run and one RBI, Swank scored one run and had one RBI, Vasseau got the other team’s hit, Britton walked once and scored two runs and Frehse and Sloan Brodersen each walked once. Swank leads Newton with 24 RBIs.

Notes: Swank has started in 149 of the 152 varsity games she played in during her five-year career. She’s only struck out 24 times in 475 career at-bats and has one strikeout in each of the past two seasons … Next up for both teams is regional play. Newton faces rival Pella (17-12) at 7 p.m. on Thursday in Pella, while PCM hosts Southeast Valley (13-12) at 7 p.m. on Thursday in Monroe. … PCM’s 1.93 earned run average ranks fifth in 3A. … Sims’ .574 OBP is fifth-best in 4A.