BARTOW — Going into the bottom of the fifth inning, the Bartow-Lake Howell matchup looked anything but like a No. 1 seed vs. No. 8 seed. It was a game where you were looking for a full moon or something supernatural to explain what was happening.
Lake Howell led by three run, and Bartow’s bats were snoozing.
Then the spell was broken, Bartow woke up by the end of the fifth inning order was restored. The Yellow Jackets were one snagged line drive from ending the game in the inning due to the 10-run mercy rule and went on to an 13-4 victory in the Class 6A, Region 2 quarterfinals.
Bartow advanced to Tuesday’s semifinals and will play host to Durant at 7 p.m.
With Bartow leading 1-0 in the top of the fifth, it was Lake Howell that finally got the clutch hit with runners on base. With two outs and the bases loaded, the Silver Hawks, who had already tied the score on a bases-loaded walk, took a 4-1 lead on Sofia Ocasio’s bases-clearing double.
At that point in the game, Bartow had just two hits. The Yellow Jackets scored its only run Niamah Johnson’s sacrifice fly in the third inning. They nearly had a 3-0 lead in the fourth on catcher Lexi Hayford sinking fly ball to shallow center with two outs , but Riley Hodoskio made a shoestring catch to end the inning.
None of that mattered in the fifth inning. After Emma Huffman reached on an error and Johnson walked, Bailee Ellis had the first of six clutch hits in the inning when she singled home a run.
“I just feel like our bats weren’t alive,” Ellis said. “We weren’t ready for it yet. It’s always a time and a place, and we came through when we needed to, helping our pitcher out.”
After Maddie Hamilton reached on an error that drove in Johnson, Alyssa Hillman’s belted a two-run single to left that gave Bartow a 5-4 lead.
Ava Haygood, Hayford and Hamilton again all added RBI singles in the inning, and Huffman had a sacrifice fly.
Haygood nearly ended the game on a line drive that was headed down the line in left with two runners on, but third baseman Bella Berios snagged it to finally end the inning with Bartow having scored 11 runs to take a 12-4 lead.
“First of all, I’m not saying that I didn’t think we’d be behind 4-1, but realistically, I did not,” Bartow coach Glenn Rutenbar said. “But then if somebody would have told me we’d have scored 11 runs in one inning, that would have been a joke. We have struggled then all of a sudden we have one inning.”
Rutenbar said his players had more hard-hit balls in that inning than they had the previous three weeks.
The Yellow Jackets finished with 10 hits. Hillman, Haygood, Mia Gomez and Hayford, the bottom for players in the lineup, combined for seven hits. The first five batters combined for just three hits but they walked five times and scored seven runs.
Rutenbar is hoping they use it as a spring board for the rest of the playoffs.
“That’s what we want and hopefully, they feel better about themselves,” he said.
Ryleigh Knowlton got the win. She struck out 12, allowed five hits and walked two batters.
7A-3: George Jenkins eliminated by Newsome
George Jenkins managed just three hits off Newsome’s Allyson Conner as the Wolves ended Jenkins’ season with a 7-1 victory in the 7A-3 regional quarterfinals.
Jenkins didn’t score until the seventh inning when Haylee Caruthers doubled home Lilyanne Mustafa.
Rural-4: Fort Meade falls short
Trailing by three runs going into the bottom of the seventh inning, Fort Meade scored one run and had the bases loaded. However, Ryleigh Grace’s line drive to center was grabbed by Luna Asencion to preserve Williston’s 4-2 victory in the Rural-4 semifinals.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Regional Softball: Bartow turns Lake Howell’s upset bid into blowout win
Reporting by Roy Fuoco, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
