Above: Cassandra Conner rounds third after her first ever at any level home run.
By the time the bottom of the ninth inning rolled around against visiting JWP on Tuesday, Emily Kern said enough was enough.
Although she took a hiatus in the fifth inning, Kern had been in the circle for eight of the nine frames the Clippers were on defense. It was time to give her arm a breather.
So, with Macey Ziebarth on third after a hit and a stolen base and Halle McCabe on second after an infield hit and a throwing error, Kern took a full-count pitch back toward the shortstop for an infield hit, and Ziebarth slid hands first into the plate for a 10-9 walk-off Clipper win.
"It was a long game," said Kern, who struck out five and gave up four hits and five walks. “It’s a lot of pitching, but I can do it, even though my arm gets sore.”
"Hats off to her," said head coach Dan Fredrickson. “You come out of the game and go back in and try to throw strikes as they’re rallying, and all the momentum is going their way.”
The Clippers took a 3-0 lead in the first. Colie McCabe singled and scored when the fielder dropped Kern’s fly to center field. Cassandra Connor followed up with her first home run at any level for two more runs.
The Clippers added another run in the third when Kern doubled, got pushed along after two walks and scored on a passed ball.
Keeping the offense rolling, Cleveland added three more runs in the fourth. Ziebarth led off with a single, stole second and scored on a Halle McCabe base hit. Kern singled too, and she and McCabe scored on a Harley Connor single to put the Clippers comfortably in front seven to zippo.
The Bulldogs came to town still looking for their first win in the Valley Conference, but they weren’t ready to roll over. They quickly caught on to Sierra Davis, in the circle for Kern, for five hits, including a homer, to pull within two, 7-5.
"Emily started to get to a lot of three-ball counts, so at some point we were going to have to take her out…but we were 7-0 and feeling ok," Fredrickson said. “I thought Sierra did a nice job. They were just hitting the ball hard and where we weren’t, and they got confidence and got in rhythm. A girl hit a three-run home run and all of a sudden it's 7-5. The game just changed like that.”
Kern returned to the circle in the sixth, but JWP added another run on a couple of Clipper outfield errors.
The sixth frame was Connor time with the Clippers adding two runs to their cushion. In order, Cassandra Connor reached first on an error while Harley Connor and Ashley Connor walked. Running for Cassandra Connor, Sophie Shouler stole home. Brianna Connor singled to score courtesy runner Madisyn Steen and put the Clippers ahead 9-6.
But on two singles, a double and a Clipper infield error, the Bulldogs scored a trio of runs to deadlock the game in the seventh.
Meanwhile, JWPs pitcher, working the outside edge, fanned five Clipper batters to send the game into two extra innings.
"To the very last inning, all the momentum was their way,” Fredrickson said. “They just kept chipping away. Their pitcher got stronger as the game went on. We jumped on her early, but she got into a groove midway through the game and was hard to hit. She did a really nice job working outside to inside, and it kept us off balance. We watched a lot of strike threes."
But the Clippers were well positioned when they came up with their top of the order in the bottom of the ninth.
"Our girls did a nice job getting on base," Fredrickson said.
The Clippers outhit JWP 16-9. Every Clipper batter added at least one hit to her resume.
Kern was 4-6 with a triple, a double and two singles. Ziebarth was 3-6 with three singles. Halle McCabe and Harley Connor each had two singles. Colie McCabe, Ashley Connor, Brianna Connor and Grayce Kortuem each hit a single. Cassandra Connor’s one hit was a round-trip ticket.
The Clippers return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Le Center to take on Tri-City United.
The Clipper infield saw plenty of action as JWP kept the ball in play. Here, shortstop Halle McCabe fields a grounder.
Left fielder Collie McCabe winds up for a throw to third.
Right fielder Kaylee Karels sets up for a toss to Grayce Kortuem at first.
Taylin Gosch juggled this popup near second but was able to rein it in. Beside her is centerfielder Macey Ziebarth.