BARTOW — Bartow’s failure to come up with clutch hits in the first inning and fifth inning looked as if it would come back to haunt the Yellow Jackets, who trailed by a run.
Ryleigh Knowlton and Alyssa Hillman changed that in the sixth inning to help the Yellow Jackets avoid the upset.
Knowlton’s double tied the score, and Hillman’s game-winning single sent Bartow to a 3-2 victory over Valrico Bloomingdale on Wednesday in the championship game of the Class 6A, District 6 softball tournament.
The victory gives the Yellow Jackets (24-3) their 29th district title and ensures that they will remain No. 1 in the region with home games throughout the regional playoffs.
Rallying late in the game could be a big confidence boost for Bartow entering the playoffs.
“I think it’s very special for this team considering we’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs from last year, and we have some new people,” Hillman said. “We have Bailee Ellis this year and she’s been a lot of help. I think one of the biggest things this year was attitude and mindset. And I think this game was a big confidence booster for a lot of us.”
It was especially a confidence booster for Hillman. It’s been a rollercoaster of a season at the plate — at least the latter half — for Hillman. She had a nine-game streak where she batted .238, rebounded by going 6 for 8 over three games before going 0 for 9 entering the championship game.
A clutch hitter in the postseason in the past for Bartow, Hillman, who went 1 for 3 and is batting .319, fought off a two-strike count by poking a two-out single to right field to drive home the winning run.
“Right now it’s very emotional because I’ve been struggling a lot on the plate, but I knew I had the same scenario last year, and I’ve had it my freshman year too,” she said. “I know how to hit. Especially this game, it was super important just for me to get in the right mindset and do what I know how to do.”
Bartow had ended the sixth inning trailing, 2-1. Ellis started the rally by getting hit by a pitch. Knowlton, the winning pitcher, then ripped a double to center field to drive in Ellis.
“I haven’t been hitting the best this game and for me to get the tying run, my last hit, was definitely great,” Knowlton said.
Knowlton pitched a three-hitter in the victory with 10 strikeouts but two of the hits she allowed were solo home runs to Daelyn Johnson and Marley Boucher.
“After that (home runs) I just forget about it,” she said. “I move on to the next pitch. I always try to get a strikeout after a home run because it just boosts me back up after letting that happen.”
Boucher doubled to lead off the bottom of the seventh but was erased when Ellis made a diving catch on a bunt and doubled Boucher off second.
“We’ve been working on our defense, and I knew she was going to be there if something happens,” Knowlton said. “They’re always there to back me up in a tight game.”
Bartow twice missed opportunities to have big innings. The Yellow Jackets had runners on first and second with one out in the first and had runners on first and third with one out in the fifth inning. They managed just one run on Maddie Hamilton’s RBI single in the first.
“Offensively it’s just it’s been bad, it’s been bad for a while, and I don’t understand it,” Bartow coach Glenn Rutenbar said. “I think we hit one hard ball. … But you know, we have Ryleigh and we do catch it. This is the best defensive team I’ve had in a long time. So if you pitch it and catch it, you get one more run than the other team, then you’re OK.”
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Clutch hits from Knowlton, Hillman lifts Bartow to district title
Reporting by Roy Fuoco, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
