In her first four at-bats Wednesday against Northgate Vikings pitcher Ashley Anderson, Sandy Creek’s Kayla Awbrey failed to get a hit.

Down 5-4 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the pressure was on Awbrey to deliver at the plate for Creek.

She came through with perhaps the biggest hit of her career, a walkoff two-run double off Anderson that handed Creek a 6-5 come-from-behind victory over Northgate in a key Region 5A-AAAA game in Tyrone.

The victory was the first in school history for Creek (21-6-1, 9-1 region) against Northgate, the defending Class AAAA state champion. And, more important, it moved the Patriots, the Class AAA state runner-up last season, into a three-way tie with Northgate and Whitewater for first place in the region.

The loss was the first in the region for Northgate (7-8-1, 5-1 region).

It’s safe to say that Awbrey won’t be invited to any Northgate get-togethers any time soon.

“I was telling her all night that she had to get that outside pitch,” Creek coach Lisa Pearce said of Awbrey. “That’s your power side, and where you hit the ball well. All night I was saying, 'Look for that pitch, drive that pitch.' I told her I didn’t want her to walk; I wanted her to be a hitter.”

Creek’s comeback was initiated by Candance Dunn’s infield single with one out in the eighth.

Anderson then induced Andrea Dalton to line out to third.

Anderson needed one more out to secure the victory, but Awbrey ruined her night with a hit to right-center field. The entire Creek team jubilantly celebrated near home plate.

Awbrey came through with the game-winning hit, but Creek’s victory wouldn’t have been possible without Hannah Braswell, who turned in one of her best hitting performances of her career, going 3-for-3 with two RBI. She also started on the mound for Creek, striking out seven and allowing four runs, five hits and three walks in five-plus innings.

Kayla Folds replaced Braswell with two outs in the sixth, and she was effective in relief, giving up three hits and one run in two-plus innings.

Northgate took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, when Kayla Heggood clubbed a double to left field, stole third and scored on Creek catcher Mackenzie Arlt’s throw to third on which none of her teammates covered the bag.

It was one of the few times Northgate took advantage of Arlt, who went on to throw out two base runners.

Braswell tied the game in the second with her first hit of the night, an RBI double off the center field fence.

Northgate’s Jackie Castaneda made it 3-1 with lightly hit two-out, two-run single between second and first base in the third.

Creek tied the game again in the fifth on two hits: Arlt’s RBI bloop single just over the outstretched glove of second baseman Chelsea Metzger and, one out later, Braswell’s two-out, bases-loaded RBI single to left field.

Metzger put Northgate back in front, 4-3, with an RBI double in the sixth.

Back-to-back fielding errors by Northgate in the sixth enabled Creek to tie the game yet again.

After Meagan Sitton singled to center field, Northgate committed consecutive fielding errors, the second of which came on a grounder to short by Dalton that scored Sitton.

The game remained tied through seven innings, forcing it to be decided in an extra inning, the eighth, in which the international tiebreaker rule came into effect. The rule allows each team to start each extra inning with a runner on second base.

The eighth began with Castaneda singling to left field and Ansley Smith following with a go-ahead RBI single just inside the right field line.

Creek appeared to be in a precarious situation, but Folds settled down and recorded three consecutive outs to escape the inning.

Creek played again Thursday, defeating another region rival, McIntosh, 14-1.

The loss was the seventh straight for the Lady Chiefs (3-14, 3-7 region).

Folds was the winning pitcher for Creek.
Sitton, Braswell, Dalton and Dunn each had hits for Creek.

Morgan Toles and Raven Moore each had stolen bases and scored runs for the Lady Patriots.

The top-ranked team in Class AAAA, the Whitewater Lady Wildcats, defeated Starr’s Mill 12-0 in four innings Thursday.

Whitney Toler pitched a no-hitter for Whitewater. She struck out four.

Kaitlyn Johnson (3-for-3, three RBI), Melanie Ennis (2-for-2, two RBI), Ashley Schwab (2-for-3, one RBI), McKenize Woody (1-for-3, two RBI), Jamie Saunders (1-for-2) and Haley Richards (1-for-2, one RBI) led Whitewater at the plate.

Fayette County lost its fourth consecutive game Tuesday, 9-3 to Villa Rica.

Fayette is now 3-5 overall and 3-5 in Region 5A-AAAA.

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