South Wagga Warriors threw away a possible mercy rule victory over Turvey Park to settle with a 10-10 draw in an error-ridden game on Saturdays.
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Saints sat out, with a bye, and Warriors, with a clear gap on second-placed Turvey before the match, have remained in top position in Wagga Softball’s A grade competition.
Batting first, Turvey Park were quickly dismissed with only Amanda Lenon making first base.
Warriors managed to get their first three batters on base with Shae McMahon and Jess Swaysland both safely making first base but getting no further than second after the Turvey fielders chose to pick off the lead runner.
Turvey were again quickly dismissed at their second bat with no batters making base, as were the Warriors batters at their second bat.
Sarah Carter made first base in Turvey’s third innings but she was left stranded when their other three batters were all out at first.
The Warriors finally got some runs on the board after Louise Matheson and Jess Grant scored after Lake Albert recruit Jess Swaysland hit a home run to centre field to give Warriors a handy three-run lead going into the fourth innings.
Turvey Park rose to the challenge with Lenon hitting safely to left field, she was followed by Amanda Gooden who made first after a wild throw from McMahon at shortstop.
They both scored after Kate Looney and Jade Olsen sacrificed their turn at bat.
Turvey could have had more runs scored with Belinda Dennis still on base when Kira Hallam caught Kalee Gibbons at centre field after covering a fair bit of ground.
Warriors went into the fourth innings with a slender one-run lead and the flood gates opened with Warriors scoring seven runs in the innings.
Sam Vidler and Kira Hallam started the innings with safe hits to left field, scoring after Jayla Nix hit a three-base hit to right field.
Nix didn’t score after Turvey’s first base, Olsen, chose to take the runner at home rather than the out at first.
Warriors’ next five batters all recorded safe hits with Jess Grant and Swaysland hitting to left field, McMahon to right field while Montana Kearnes was dropped by Jamila Piercy at left field to all score at the plate.
Turvey shut the innings down when Vidler and Veronica Scott were caught in the outfield.
Turvey went into the fifth innings eight runs behind Warriors and facing a defeat under the mercy rule but the Turvey batters were not ready to give up.
After Georgina Carter was out as first batter Turvey then got Sarah Carter and Piercy safely on base and Lenon capitalised on a rare error from Swaysland at second base to make also make first.
Carter scored off the Lenon hit and Piercy scored after an error in the field from Warriors trying to get her out in a trap play.
There could have been another run added to the score after Gooden hit a safe hit to right field which Kira Hallam fielded cleanly and threw safely to home and deny her a home run, after a coach’s error in sending her home.
Looney and Olsen also scored for Turvey to have them only three runs down and surviving the mercy rule defeat.
Warriors were not able to score any more runs at their next three turns at bat with only Grant and Hallam making first courtesy of walks from pitcher Jade Olsen and Swaysland and McMahon both getting safe hits.
Turvey scored another two runs in their sixth innings with Carter and Piercy scoring off an Lenon hit to right field.
Turvey had one more bat to possibly get the win, but the game was over when Vidler caught Carter at catcher.
Warriors had squandered their seven-run lead and Turvey had fought back to record a 10-10 draw for the game.
Turvey Park will enjoy the bye next week while Warriors will play their last game before the finals when they face Saints in another seven-innings game next week.