By RYAN WALKER
Bluffton got right back on track after losing four straight games coming into Monday.
The Tigers topped the visiting Union City Indians (2-7) 8-5 to improve to 4-5 on the season.
The Indians were also coming off of four straight losses, and both teams desperately wanted to end their droughts. The schools seesawed through the first three innings. Union City drew first blood with two runs in the top of the first inning with two two-out doubles.
Bluffton responded, dropping three in the next frame. Madyson Sonnigsen doubled home Marly Drayer, and a walk and three hit batters later, the Tigers were up 3-2.
In the second inning, Sonnigsen doubled yet again to drive in a run and put the Tigers in a 4-2 advantage. But the Indians came crawling back in the fourth. They got their third and fourth runs off of more two-out hitting by Abby and Lilly Zigler.
Both teams traded the lead or tied it multiple times to that point already, but the bottom of the fourth was where a Tiger earned her stripe.
Junior Isabella Stout belted a two-run home run to deep left field, knocking the foul pole. The umpire’s original call was that it hit off the wall for a double, but head coach Tyler Sonnigsen, also the third base coach, pleaded his case that it did hit the pole. After the home plate umpire conversed with the field umpire, the two agreed that it did and overturned the call.
The blast put the Tigers out front 6-4 and was the final lead change of the night. Union City would score one more in the fifth, but was held at five for the remainder of the night.
The home run was Stout’s first hit of the season. She was 0-13 and the only Tiger without a hit. This was a surprise to many, as she was a .375 hitter with 12 extra-base hits last season. She was a staple in the lineup, and Tyler Sonnigsen knew that he needed to step in and get her back on track.
He said in an earlier conversation last week, he reminded her that she was still a good hitter and wanted to put her in the No. 2 slot in the batting order. Sonnigsen thought if Stout understood he still had confidence in and put a little pressure on her, it would net positive results.
“I told the coaches what I was going to do, and I said, ‘Hey, (Isabella’s) going to bat in the two hole.’ And hopefully, that puts a little pressure on her but also, psyche-wise makes her think, ‘Hey, he believes in me.’ So, hopefully she would believe in herself and she got out there and smoked one,” Sonnigsen said.
In the fifth, Union City’s Brianna Williams singled home a run to bring the deficit back to one run. That set up for a perfect opportunity to strike in the sixth, where the Indians had the bases loaded and nobody out.
“I told (Madyson Sonnigsen, on the mound) you can’t get them all out at this at one time, so you’re gonna have to work through it,” Tyler Sonnigsen said. “Let’s go one at a time.”
Madyson Sonnigsen did just that. The first out came as a punchout, then, a popout to Stout at second base and an easy grounder to Averi Petty at first ended the inning with no damage. The odds of scoring with the bases full and nobody out typically would gain at least a tie game in this scenario, but instead, the Tigers were saved.
“And the defense was solid all night,” Tyler Sonnigsen said. “They really were. I think (Madyson Sonnigsen) was just confident in her teammates behind her team and her teammates backed her up 110%.”
Bluffton put the game to bed in the sixth inning, where Kayla Kiefer stepped into a pinch-hit role and delivered a single to plate Jillian Phillippe. Drayer then doubled and scored Kiefer to make it 8-5.
The win ended the dreadful losing skid and perhaps gave the Tigers some life, especially with a conference game with Southern Wells coming up the next day.
“I’d say it’s very important,” Tyler Sonnigsen said. “(We’ve) had a tough schedule here early in the season and playing some really good teams. It was good. This game was a lot like the Manchester game. Just a dogfight back and forth, and was able to pull away at the end is very important. (It’s a) very good confidence booster.”
The game at Southern Wells will be at 5 p.m.
ryan@news-banner.com
