After hurling 144 pitches in their game against East Carter just eight hours earlier, South Warren pitcher Shelby Nunn came through again for the Lady Spartans as they survived a 14-inning marathon with a 2-0 win over Mercy Academy in the KHSAA Fast Pitch State Tournament.
After taking a break from the mound in their 9-2 loss to Louisville Male, which sent South Warren (35-4) to the consolation bracket, Nunn decided that she would give it a go in the 7:00 matchup.
“She couldn’t go this (in the Male game) because her arm was toast after the first game,” said South Warren head coach Chris Riggs. “We regrouped after the Male game and she said she wanted to give it a go, and she really pushed herself.”
In the game that never seemed to end, Nunn may have gotten a little more than she bargained for, as she accumulated 179 pitches in the contest against the Lady Jaguars to bring her total pitch count to 323 on the day.
The game, like it’s 9 a.m. counterpart in East Carter, started out as a barnburner and never faded away from that.
Fast-forwarding to the seventh inning, South Warren had the bases loaded on Mercy (30-12) with one out in the top of the inning before eventually stranding them.
After both teams traded three up, three down innings, the Lady Spartans again left runners at first and second base in the top of the 10th inning, giving the Lady Jags another chance to win it on any sort of score.
After Mercy went down in order and South Warren stranded a runner on second base, Mercy had a chance to score in the top of the eleventh with a runner on second. Abby Simeon singled to right field, but Kaitlyn Shultz was tagged out for the last out while attempting to come home.
In the top of the fourteenth, South Warren got runners on first and second before Nunn’s RBI single brought in Bailee Collins from second base.
Immediately after, Madilyn Daugherty hit an RBI single to bring in courtesy runner Ashley White, giving the Lady Spartans a 2-0 lead.
“How we fought through that game and played the defense that we did, you could tell that we believed in ourselves,” said Riggs. “The girls did a great job.”
South Warren pounded out 13 hits in the contest, including four from Daugherty, and two apiece from Katie Conley, Alexis Isable, and Karson Williams. Mercy had seven hits on the night, including two from Madison Dykes.
With the win, South Warren advances to play Owensboro Catholic (26-12) at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning for the consolation bracket title.
“We talked about the goal being ‘get to Saturday,’” said Riggs. “That means you’re going to have to turn around and play early in the morning, but you also finish in the top four so that’s alright.
I told them to enjoy this for a little bit and to go get some food and get some sleep. We will show up in the morning and see what happens.”
