Clinton’s softball team had showed marked signs of improvement over the past 2 or 3 games. The Lady Dark Horses just couldn’t break through, committing late inning errors to turn close games into one sided losses. Tuesday night, hosting Union, the Lady Dark Horses finally put together a complete game to drop the visiting Lady Spartans, 14-10 to pick up their first Four County Conference win of the season.
The Lady Dark Horses jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first only to see Union answer with six runs of their own in the top of the second to open up a four run advantage at 6-2. Clinton slowly pecked away at the Lady Spartan lead, picking up two runs in the second and two in the third to tie the game at six runs apiece.
Union plated a run in the top of the fifth to break the tie and move ahead 7-6. The Dark Horses used possibly their best turn at bat of the season in the bottom of the fifth when Callie Sumner bunted her way aboard with one out, stole second and third and tied the game when Tori Johnson rolled a grounder down the third base line that handcuffed the Union defender allowing Sumner to rush home. The Sumner run seemed to open the flood gates and the Spartans pushed 5 more runs across before the Lady Spartans could retire the side.
Union was able to get one run back in the top of the sixth but Clinton answered with two of their own in their half of the inning to run the lead to 14-8 going into the final inning. Union threatened, getting two runs over before Clinton could record the final out and set of a loud celebration.
After the game, Clinton’s head coach, Todd Slater, obviously very proud, lauded his teams long awaited win, saying, “Tori Johnson and Callie Sumner pitched awesome for us tonight and we hit the ball much better as a team. The girls stayed positive and fought our way to a solid win. Tori and Callie also lead the way on offense, each one scoring three runs, they really had good games tonight.”