GO AHEAD RUN … Evergreen freshman Macy Chamberlin scores ahead of the throw to give the Vikings a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning.(PHOTO BY RICH HARDING, STAFF)
By: Nate Calvin
Macy Chamberlin smacked a home run to tie the game in the seventh and Breanna Huffman had a walk-off RBI single in the eighth inning to give Evergreen a 5-4 win over Archbold.
Archbold struck first with Kylie Sauder drawing a walk to start the game and after a passed ball and steal was at third with one out.
Carsyn Hagans would bring Sauder home with an RBI groundout to give Archbold a 1-0 lead.
The Bluestreaks extended the lead to 2-0 in the top of the third as Sauder would start the inning with a solo shot over the right field fence off Evergreen pitcher Breanna Huffman.
Evergreen generated a run in the bottom of the third as Marissa VanDenk and Chamberlin singled with two outs to keep the inning alive.
Huffman then singled to center, scoring VanDenk to trim the Archbold lead to 2-1.
With runners at second and third, the inning ended for Evergreen as Jocelyn Schuster popped out to Sauder at shortstop.
The Vikings would take their first lead in the fifth as Kennedy Keller would get things going with a one-out double to left.
After a two out-walk by Chamberlin put runners on the corners, a wild pitch with Huffman at-bat scored Keller from third to tie the game 2-2 as Chamberlin advanced to second on the play.
Huffman would work the count to 3-2 before she hit a popup that was misplayed at third base by Archbold which allowed Huffman to reach base and Chamberlin came around to score and give Evergreen a 3-2 lead.
The sixth inning opened for Archbold with a double by Alyssa McCoy who was replaced on the bases by Maddie Thiel as a courtesy runner.
A groundout by Reagan Kohler moved Thiel to third where she would then score on a groundout by Addison Ziegler to tie the game 3-3.
Archbold (4-2, 0-1 in NWOAL) went back in front in the seventh as Hagans singled and then Bre Boysel would single to score Hagans and give Archbold a 4-3 advantage.
The Vikings (3-3, 1-0) then began their clutch hitting with Chamberlin knocking 3-1 pitch over the fence in right to lead-off the seventh to tie the ballgame at 4-4.
A walk to Huffman and a single by Schuster gave the Vikings runners at first and second with still nobody out.
But Archbold pitcher Maddie Thiel worked out of the jam with two strikeouts and a fly out to keep the game tied and headed to extra innings.
Archbold was retired in order in the top of eighth setting the table for the Vikings in their half of the inning.
Thiel was able to retire the first two Evergreen hitters of the inning before walking VanDenk and Chamberlin with two outs.
Huffman, who also got the win in the circle for Evergreen, hit a single to right that scored VanDenk from second to give the Vikings a walk-off win.
Huffman finished the night for Evergreen with two hits and two RBIs while Schuster, Chamberlin, Keller had two hits each.
Hagans, Ella Bowman, and Boysel tallied two hits apiece for the Bluestreaks.
SCORE BY INNINGS R H E
Archbold 101 001 10 4 8 3
Evergreen 001 020 11 5 9 3
Nate can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com