By BRAD KEITH
TheFlashToday.com
STEPHENVILLE (March 3, 2018) — Jettie Funderburgh picked the perfect time to launch her first varsity home run.
Funderburgh belted a game-winning grand slam in the top of the sixth inning Friday, Saturday, lifting Stephenville to a 5-4 victory over Lubbock High in a game the Honeybees had trailed since the third inning.
A first-year varsity regular, Funderburgh was 0-for-1 with a sacrifice when she stepped to the plate following singles by Julia Flores and Bianka Garcia then two batters later a walk by Madison Gilder that juiced the bases. The second baseman for the Honeybees drove one of the fence in left center and in the blink of an eye, a three-run deficit was transformed into a one-run advantage.
It was right on time, too, because while the base running situation certainly could have affected focus, pitch selection and pitch location, the next two Bees struck out to end the inning.
From there, it was Flores time in the circle for Stephenville as she, in essence, became her own closer. Under time limit, the game lasted just six innings, not seven, so the senior hurler needed just one scoreless inning and as she has time and again throughout her career, Flores delivered.
She entered the circle in the bottom of the sixth with confidence brimming and struck out the first batter on four pitches, then got a fly out on two and a ground out on four.
Ten pitches. Game over.
Flores scattered seven hits over the six innings, but answered that herself with six strikeouts. The Bees did commit two errors in the field, but Flores managed to avoid issuing a walk.
After waiting and growing desperate for offense that was finally delivered in the first game Saturday, nobody could seem to make the scoring stop in game two.
The Bees defeated Forsan 14-8 to go 2-2 in the tournament and run their record to 8-5 on the season.
After six total hits against Lubbock, Morgan DiCiccio hhad three herself against Forsan. The top six in the lineup combined for 10 hits.
The big blow was a home run by Bianka Garcia to highlight her 4-RBI performance on 2-for-3 hitting with a walk. DiCiccio was 3-for-3 with 2 RBI and 3 runs scored, Gilder had 2 RBI, Flores drove in 3 with a double and a walk.
Funderburgh drove in a run once more, while Allysa Ebeling collected a hit, a walk, an RBI and 2 runs scored.
Garcia gave Flores a break from the circle and to her credit, only half the runs by Forsan were earned. She was charged four earned runs on six hits while walking three. Two of the hits were Forsan home runs.
Be the first to comment