LIVINGSTON – The state softball playoffs haven’t started yet, but Holden and Doyle gave folks a glimpse into what the postseason might look like in their meeting Wednesday.
Olivia Lackie threw a three-hitter with 15 strikeouts, and Emma Hutchinson launched a solo home run in the fourth inning, helping the Lady Rockets to a 1-0 victory at Johnny Sartwell Park.
“Every time we come down the road to play Doyle, we know it’s going to be a dogfight,” Holden coach Linzey Bowers said. “We know it’s going to come down to who gets the timely hit, because that’s a solid team. That’s a pretty good little pitcher on the mound, and she finds a way to always keep my hitters off balance. It’s a matter of who’s going to step up in the big moment and score the run when it needs to be scored.”
Even though her team took the loss, Doyle coach Amanda Decell said the game will only help once the postseason begins.
“I think it helped us tremendously,” Decell said. “We see how we can play under pressure. We saw good hitting. We saw a good pitcher for sure, and I thought that we brought them our best game. I really did.
“She’s (Lackie) an incredible pitcher. There’s only so much you can do at the plate, but defensively and pitching, we gave them our best game, and I think that will help us along the road.”
Doyle pitcher Marley Olivier scattered five hits while striking out three to keep Holden in check. She got a strikeout/throw-out double play in the second inning as the Lady Rockets stranded two runners after Hutchinson walked and Kamrynn Ouber singled.
Holden (24-4) left Taylor Barfield at third in the third inning after her leadoff double.
“She really stepped up today,” Decell said of Olivier, who issued four walks. “She was nervous. Don’t get me wrong. She was nervous. I could tell, but I think once she saw the girls behind her were making plays, she was able to relax and just throw her game.”
After Lackie struck out the side in the bottom of the third, Hutchinson launched her home run to center field with two outs, scoring the game’s only run.
“I was just looking for a good pitch – swing at good pitches, not swing at balls – take a good swing,” Hutchinson said. “It was a change-up. I just took a good swing, and I’m just happy it went out. I was hoping we could add some more runs, but I’m glad that we were able to have one more than they did.”
After Hutchinson’s home run, Olivier worked around a two-out walk to Ashley Fogg in the fifth inning.
In the top of the sixth, Lackie was called out at first base after a one-out single for leaving the bag early when she was being replaced for a courtesy runner. Gracie Duffy legged out an infield single, and Hutchinson walked before Olivier struck out Ouber to end the inning.
“We did a lot of good things,” Bowers said. “We got some baserunners on, and we weren’t able to get the bunt down. We weren’t able to get the stolen base. There were a lot of small things that we need to be able to execute at this point in the season that really didn’t go our way today. We’re going to look at it; we’re going to learn from it; we’re going to build on it, and hopefully have that perfected by the time its time to go into postseason.
“We’ve still got stuff to work on. It’s good to come play competitive like this that are going to expose you in areas that you think you’ve got under control.”
Lackie struck out at least two batters in every inning except the fourth when KK Savant reached on an error to lead off, and Madison Diaville got a two-out single – Doyle’s first hit of the game – before Elise Jones flied out to center to end the inning.
Kylie Merrell had a two-out single in the fifth, but Rylee Lambert struck out looking to end the inning.
“To beat a pitcher like that, you have to play a perfect game and things have to go your way,” Decell said. “If it doesn’t, you can’t beat her.”
Diaville had a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh, but Jones and Olivier struck out swinging before Chloe Welda popped out to Fogg to end the game.
“Today, I was kind of mainly working screwball and curve, and that seemed to be working pretty effectively for me,” Lackie said. “I was just working it off the plate, and they were just swinging. Getting ahead in the count really helps a lot because it gives me the ability to throw what I want to throw, and it doesn’t have to be right there for the umpire to call, so it really helps a lot.”
