Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
Campbell
Army Rallies To Defeat Campbell 10-8
February 12, 2012 | Softball
Feb. 12, 2012
ATHENS, Ga. - Freshman Morgan Lashley allowed just three runs over 6.2 innings of relief pitching, and senior Reanna Johnson drove in three runs, including the game winner, and scored twice as Army battled back from a pair of deficits to defeat Campbell, 10-8, in eight innings Saturday evening.
With the Campbell game played over three hours late (slated for 5 p.m.), Army's second game of the day vs. North Carolina State at the Fifth Annual Red and Black Showcase was called because of temperatures dipping to nine degrees with 30 mph winds.
Though the teams arrived to 60 degrees in Georgia on Thursday, the weather took a turn for the worse Friday between the rain and cold weather. Army's final game Friday night was suppose to be at 7 p.m. but ended up closer to 11 p.m., while Saturday's games were also behind the scheduled times with the frigid weather causing the later games to be cancelled.
Sunday's morning games (to include Army vs. St. John's at 11 a.m.) were cancelled because of the weather, but the afternoon games will go on as scheduled.
The Black Knights (2-1), raking two pitchers for a game-high 16 hits and 10 runs, fought back from 5-0, 2-0, and 1-0 deficits en route to closing out tournament play on a winning note.
Trailing 5-0 after two innings, Army rallied with four runs in the top of the third, tied the game 6-6 in the fourth inning, then pulled ahead by a run (7-6) in the fifth. The Camels (1-2) retook the lead, 8-7, with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth, but Alex Reynolds' infield hit in the top of the seventh tied the score 8-8 when she delivered April Ortenzo.
In the bottom of the seventh, Johnson pulled up with a clutch play when she threw out Campbell's Eric Johnson, who walked, at home plate when she tried to score from second base on Jessi Lane's single to the outfield. Lashley then stranded the go-ahead run at third base to force the game into an extra session.
Because of the time and weather conditions, the international tie-breaker rule was applied (the last player to record an out on a team starts the extra inning at second base). After freshman Alex Gaff took second base to start off the top of the eighth inning, she advanced to third base on a wild pitch off Brittany Arnn. Johnson came through with game heroics with her tie-breaking RBI single to the left field gap, then added an insurance run when she moved around on a wild pitch and infield error before crossing on Marina Northup's fielder's choice groundout.
Lashley then shut the door on Campbell, retiring three of the four batters she faced in the home half of the eighth inning. She stranded Ericka Nesbitt at third on a flyout to right field after she moved up a base on a single with two outs. The win is the second of the tournament for the Army freshman (2-1) who recorded a game-high six strikeouts along with scattering seven hits.
After taking over the circle from classmate Jules Steurerin the second inning, who got into a jam being touched for three hits and five runs, Ashley yielded three straight walks. She settled down and Army turned a double play to get out of the inning.
The Black Knights rallied in the top of the third inning as they capitalized on six hits (including four straight) to score three runs with Johnson tripling home a pair and crossing on Rachel Duval's RBI double. Freshman Ali Cleinmark singled home Duval, who moved to third on a wild pitch, to close out the scoring. With bases loaded, starter Julia Callicutt nipped Army's rally on a force at home plate.
Campbell added a run in the bottom of the third for a 6-4 lead, but Army tied the score in the top of the fourth, Reynolds, who was 3-for-4 with two runs scored, led off with a single up the middle and advanced to second on Alexis AuBuchon's hit to right field. Both moved up a base on a wild pitch. Reynolds scored when Gaff reached on an error by the third baseman, then AuBuchon tied the count 6-6 when she crossed on a passed ball.
The Black Knights snapped the tie and took their first lead of the night (7-6) in the fifth on Gaff's run-scoring single that delivered Northup, who drew the first of three walks in that frame. Army's lead proved short lived as Campbell capitalized on three timely hits for a pair of runs and an 8-6 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Army will be idle next week before returning to the tournament circuit when it heads to Norfolk, Va., to take on the host Norfolk State along with Delaware and Monmouth.
