Glasgow hit hard fly ball after hard fly ball in the seventh inning, but Community R-6 wasn’t concerned.

Community R-6 vs Glasgow Photo Gallery

The Lady Trojans just had batter after batter reach in the bottom half of the inning to win their Central Activities Conference opener 7-6 on Monday at home. The first four Community hitters reached to tie the game at 6 following a four-run top of the seventh inning by Glasgow and then Rylee Rafferty laser up the middle brought home the walk-off winner.

Head coach Kendra Murphy said Community (4-2, 1-0 CAC) was coming off their first two losses on Saturday — both ugly ones — but Monday’s game instilled more confidence in her and her team.

“They did a good job of having good at-bats all game,” Murphy said. “We were in control of that game until the top of the seventh. I felt pretty confident when we were coming to the plate again for the last time that we were going to at least tie it.”

Murphy said Community’s upcoming hitters in the seventh inning were having good games. Amy McCurdy finished 2-for-4, and pitcher Jocelyn Curtis went 3-for-4 with two RBI. They both found spots for singles to hand off the responsibility to the girls following them in the order, which was Murphy’s hope. 

Lydia Hoyt then laid down a bunt like she’s done already this year and then Glasgow (3-1, 1-1 CAC) fired an errant throw toward third to make Community R-6’s deficit 6-5. The plan then started to exceed expectations.

“The thought never really crossed my mind that she would come and try to throw to third on that,” Murphy said. “It worked out better than what I had in my mind, because in my mind, we had runners at second and third with one out or we had bases loaded because Lydia gets out the box so well when she does bunt.”

In retrospect, Community benefited from that split-second decision by Glasgow as Chloe Johnson ran out an infield single to tie the game at 6 and finish 3-for-4 at the plate. Johnson accomplished that result in two pitches, which is exactly what she wanted.

“My mindset is get it done in two (pitches),” Johnson said. “I don’t like to be in the box for very long. I like to get out there as soon as possible. My approach was to see that first strike and hit it. Mostly, she was throwing outside first pitch. I scooted up to the plate and hit it.” 

Johnson was “stoked” she made it ahead of the throw to first base because the Lady Trojans had two strikeout after Glasgow elected to intentionally walk the bases loaded with no outs. 

“I was so happy because I knew it was going to be important,” Johnson said. “It’s always important to get on, whether you don’t see it at that time or not.”

The strikeouts just handed the opportunity to Rafferty, who sent Brooklynn Morris’ pitch right back to her and the hard-hit ricochet died in the infield and brought home the winning run.

“I knew a job needed to be done so I just knew I had to make contact and hope for the best,” Rafferty said. “I just wanted hard contact somewhere.”

Rafferty was at shortstop when Glasgow had the bases loaded in the fourth inning after two infield errors began the frame for the Community defense. The Lady Jackets scored one already to make 3-2 Community, but the Lady Trojans held them to just that one run. Second baseman Myla Carroll fielded a ground ball and threw home to get the forceout and prevent a run from scoring.

After four Glasgow runs already scored in the seventh inning, the threat ended when Rafferty slapped on the tag to catch a runner stealing. Catcher Peyton Schafer made a good throw to give the Community defense yet another example of them bouncing back in the game.

“It is definitely just keep talking and just stay up in the dugout,” Rafferty said. “Keep other people up when they make an error and always make sure you’re talking.”

Murphy said Glasgow hitting more balls in the air and doing more damage against Curtis, following six innings of weaker contact, was a testament to the Lady Jacket hitters. In their fourth time through the lineup, the hitters that were “due” came through, but of course, the Lady Trojans were taking better at-bats too.

“I’m proud of them,” Murphy said. “Saturday took a lot of us. They responded well after those two hard losses on Saturday.”

Community hosts district foe Silex (0-1) at 5 p.m. Friday.