Cougars Come Back in Last Inning to Beat the Chargers

The Oakton Cougars celebrated seniors night by winning a home game against the Chantilly Chargers in dramatic fashion.  After trailing for the last 3 ½ innings, the Cougars came back from a four-run deficit in their last at-bat during a two-out rally to win 8-7 in front of a large Oakton crowd that was swelled for seniors night.  This was also VGSL and CYA girls softball appreciation night, and the VGLS girls team coached by the Cougars’ Danni Nicholls attended to cheer for Oakton and Danni.

Neither team threatened the other during the first three innings as they both went through their batting lineups.  In the top of the fourth inning, Oakton retired Chantilly’s first two batters in order, and then the Chargers started a two-out rally and scored five runs when four out of their next five batters hit singles and the Cougars committed two errors.

The Cougars, nonetheless, bounced back in the bottom of the fourth.  Shortstop Sami Bassett led off with a walk.  Pitcher Taylor Fay put runners on first and second when she singled after Bassett. Left fielder Danni Nicholls walked next to load the bases, then first baseman Katie Edwards drove in Bassett by hitting a single to left field, keeping the bases loaded.  Second baseman Georgia Brandt brought in Fay with an infield grounder, and reached first on a Charger error, keeping the bases loaded.  The inning ended two batters later with the score 5-2 in Chantilly’s favor.

Chantilly stretched their lead to 7-2 in the top of the fifth inning, and the Cougars shrank it to 7-3 in the bottom of the inning.  Center fielder Emily Kamienski led off with a walk, moved to second base on a passed ball, and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Bassett.  Kamienski scored when Fay hit an RBI single to left field.

In the tops of the sixth and seventh innings, the Cougars played solid defense that kept their chances alive.  In the last two innings, Linda Lyons, who had moved from right field to left field in the sixth inning, caught three fly balls in left field.  And, the Cougar defense allowed only four Chargers to bat before retiring the side in each of the last two innings.

Coming up in their last at-bat in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Cougars trailed by four runs, but they were far from beaten.  Right/left fielder Linda Lyons led off the last at bat by walking.  The Oakton stands exploded with noise when Kamienski followed with a single, placing Cougars on first and second bases.  One out later, Fay reached first to load the bases.  As the next Cougar batted, the Oakton stands exploded again when Lyons scored from third on a wild pitch and Kamienski and Fay advanced to third and second bases on the same play.

A few more pitches resulted in a strike out, and the Cougars faced a very difficult situation because they trailed by three runs with two outs, albeit with Cougar runners on second and third bases.  Outfielder Danni Nicholls came up to bat and after three pitches fell behind with a one ball, two strike count against her.  The stands exploded a third time when Nicholls came through and hit a single to left-center field, which drove in Kamienski and closed the gap to 7-5.  Edwards came up next and walked, loading the bases again, still with two outs.

Brandt followed at the plate, and hit the first pitch on the ground to the Chantilly pitcher as the crowd fell into a dreadful hush.  Fortune smiled on the Cougars when the Chantilly pitcher mishandled Brandt’s ground ball, allowing Fay to score and Brandt to reach, keeping the bases loaded.

With the score now 7-6, Nicole Berube, who had subbed into the game in right field during the sixth inning, came up to bat next.  The pressure was high when Berube got behind in  the count with one ball and two strikes.  The pitcher threw the next pitch, and Berube fouled it off.  The pitch after that was low and Berube laid off, making the count two balls and two strikes.  The next pitch was letters high, and Berube swatted it into right field while the Cougar crowd and bench reacted with an incredible roar.

Nicholls scored easily from third base on the crack of the bat, tying the game.  Seeing that Berube had hit the ball well into the outfield, Coach Butterfield waved Edwards through to score as she ran from second base.  As Edwards rounded third and headed for home, the Charger’s right fielder threw the ball towards home plate.  Because the throw was a bit offline, the Charger pitcher cut it, and Edwards scored comfortably by the time the pitcher could turn and throw to the Chantilly catcher.  Berube’s walk off,  two-out, two-strike, two-RBI single to right field ended the game and made the final score 8-7 in Oakton’s favor for a dramatic win to honor our graduating seniors Danni Nicholls, Sami Bassett, Taylor Fay, and Emily Kamienski.