YSE File Photo
Alyssa Cartwright certainly picked the perfect time for her first triple of the season. The Webster County High School freshman used a three-bagger to bring home Kennedy Warren, then scored the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly, lifting the Trojans to a thrilling 3-2 win at Lyon County on Monday.
The 2nd Region contest, which was mostly a pitchers duel between Lyon’s Lilly Perry and Webster’s Chloe Papineau, was in favor of the Lyons by a count of 2-1 when Courtney Collins’ bunt single scored Lauren Davis in the bottom of the third inning. It remained that way as the starting pitchers battled into the seventh.
In their final at-bat, however, WCHS (3-2) got a one-out single from Warren and then kept the game-winning rally alive when Cartwright smacked a full-count pitch into center field for a game-tying triple. Mylee Whitledge proceeded to lift a fly ball to center, bringing home Cartwright for what would be the winning run.
Papineau (3-2), who started for the fifth straight time to start the year, produced a 1-2-3 inning against LCHS in the bottom of the seventh, ending the come-from-behind victory with her sixth strikeout of the game. She allowed seven hits, two runs and no walks, and threw 62 strikes on 78 pitches.
Perry (3-2) was also dialed in for most of the affair and finished her complete-game outing with nine K’s and four walks. Lyon County did commit four errors on its home field, but Perry allowed just three runs — two of which were earned.
All seven hits by the Lyon offense were singles; leading hitter Gracen Wynn had two of them, raising her season batting average above .600. Collins also had a pair of hits in defeat. Brenna Breitrick went 1-for-3 with a run scored.
Monday’s matchup was the 27th meeting between the two regional foes since 2002. During that time, Webster leads the tight-knit series 16-11. Lyon County (2-3) will play a second straight home game at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday against Livingston Central. The Lyons and Trojans are scheduled to play again April 30 in Dixon.
