Clyde scores five in the 7th to beat SE

CLYDE-Too many mental errors and a strong comeback by Clyde caused Seneca East's lead to evaporate. Until the bottom of the seventh inning, SE looked poised to win. Clyde had other plans. The Fliers' Jayleigh Flynn nailed a double to left field past Seneca East's MacKenna Lucius. Kember Nelson and Skylynn Glaspy scored, and Clyde walked off the Tigers, 9-8 Saturday at Joe Wilson Field. "We just haven't learned how to finish games yet," SE coach Steve Coppes said. "It's the first game and our starter (pitcher) was getting tired and she gave it everything she had. We just couldn't finish it." The Fliers (2-1) were down 8-4 heading to the bottom of the seventh, when Paige Miller came in to pitch for the Tigers (0–1). Miller came in to relieve starter Kynlee Miller. "We put someone else in that hasn't had varsity time and didn't have time to warm up," Coppes said. "Nobody's fault but that's how it works, she wasn't as sharp as she normally is." After a Teaghan Smith walk, the bases were loaded. "I thought today we could have given up, especially being down four runs in the seventh," Fliers coach Marc Marshall said. "We kept battling and that's what got us the win." Molly Guhn grounded the ball out to the right field towards Macey Webb. In the time it took to throw the ball back, Amber Dillingham came running through home plate, making it 8-5. Glaspy knew what she needed to do: be aggressive with the bat. She hit a pop fly out to center field that allowed Caudill to score, while Smith took third and Nelson went to second. "Once we got the hits rolling, it became contagious and we got it together just in time," Marshall said. "Seneca East had a couple of mistakes and it helped us get the win." Clyde brought it within one run, 8-7, on an Ariah Farrar walk with Smith scoring. SE came out aggressive in the first inning. With two outs, the Tigers looked to Jordyn Enders to get them on the board. Enders singled to third base and drove in Madi Smith. Lillian Burkholder kept the momentum going for the Tigers as she connected on a line drive to Flynn in center. It gave Enders and Hanna Feathergill just enough time to run through the plate, making it 3-0. Clyde got two runs in the first inning when Mya Stiefel tripled to the right field and Farrar, who walked earlier, was able to get a run. Stiefel scored later. In the second inning, the Tigers got three more runs on the board, one in the third, and one in the sixth, making it 8-2. Farrar stole second base while Flynn was at bat. Flynn hit a double, and that allowed Farrar and Teaghan Smith to score. Kynlee Miller gave up four runs on eight hits while striking out two. Dillingham was the winning pitcher, as she gave up three runs on two hits and had two strikeouts in four innings. For the Tigers, they return most of their roster from last season, but most of their players have not had varsity experience. "We have a fairly young team," Coppes said. "We told them to come out aggressive and play," Coppes said. "We told them for defense to come out aggressive as well. Try to make plays and set ourselves up in a good position. We just couldn't close out." Seneca East 303 101 0—8 11 0Clyde 200 002 5—9 12 0 WP Dillingham; LP K Miller