HART – Both Kevin Burmeister and Dean DeVries knew the winner of a pre-district matchup between Shelby and Hart softball would come down to the basepaths. Fortunately for DeVries, the Pirates were able to take advantage of their trips to the plate, riding waves of scoring to a 12-10 victory over the Tigers Tuesday, May 27.
Hart and Shelby are no strangers to one another, making it hard to believe that either could harbor any secrets. Shelby however, was without freshman phenom Jayna Burmeister for the two team’s first meeting on May 6, leaving the Pirates blind in terms of what she brought to the circle.
“We didn’t get a chance to see (Burmeister) in our conference matchup, so we didn’t know what to expect there,” DeVries said. “We were disciplined at the plate and we swung at good pitches for the most part. That allowed us to put the bat on the ball pretty well for having never seen her before.
“I thought our approach at the plate was really nice today. Once we got on the bases, we have a lot of really smart and experienced runners on our team – so they were able to create runs by taking extra bases. (We knew) whoever could eliminate those extra bases would be the team who would win.”
Figuring out Burmeister became an immediate issue for Hart as they found themselves trailing after the first half inning. Shelby’s Emma Stovall capitalized on a lead-off walk to start the game, stealing a base and advancing to third on a passed ball before Jordan Wolting notched a run batted in (RBI) to put the Tigers on top 1-0.
With Burmeister set to pitch, Hart’s offense needed to find early success of their own to keep pace. The Pirates were able to do just that. After watching Mackenna Carrier earn a walk of her own, Kelsey Copenhaver drove her in on a single, Reese Smith scored Copenhaver on a double and Nora Chickering ended the inning with a line drive single to score Smith.
Shelby didn’t waste time hanging their heads. The young Lady Tigers showed resilience at the plate, finding their way on the base paths early in the second inning.
First it was a walk for Stella Springer, then Izzy Rudat reached first after taking a pitch to the body on a 2-0 count. Daniella Zarraga sacrificed her at bat to advance Springer and Rudat into scoring position on a bunt, which was paid off two pitches into Allie Stovall’s at-bat as Springer scored on a passed ball. Allie Stovall ended up with a walk, but was thrown out on an attempt to steal second base. Emma Stovall snagged her second walk of the day after that, bringing Burmeister to the plate with two on base.
That’s where the chess match started for DeVries and the Pirates.
Aware of Burmeister’s propensity to bring her teammates home, DeVries opted for an intentional walk to load the bases and force another Shelby batter to make a play. That wouldn’t be the last time that situation played out. In all, Burmeister went 0-for-1 at the plate, but reached first base three times on intentional walks.
“As her dad, I love watching (Jayna) swing and I love watching her play,” Kevin Burmeister said. “On that side of it, I don’t like it, but it’s going to happen a lot. I’ll be honest though, if the game was on the line, I wouldn’t throw to her either. Kent City did it to us and so have some other schools.”
“It’s a double-edged sword,” DeVries said of his decision to intentionally walk Burmeister. “She’s so talented at the plate. I’ve seen her growing up and now seeing her batting average and how she pounds the ball – my mindset was that I didn’t want to let that one play create momentum.”
Even without Burmeister’s offense, Shelby found ways to hang around for the game’s entirety. After knotting the score up at 3-3 to end the top of the second inning, the Tigers’ defense shut down Hart’s bats to give themselves a chance to take the lead back.
The chances of doing that in the top of the third inning looked promising. Hali Hayes and Jaedyn Allen notched back-to-back singles to start, but Copenhaver heated up for Hart to shut down the next three batters. The Pirates turned that momentum into another lead on an RBI from Smith that scored Caydence Bateson.
Shelby regained the lead in the fourth inning on a two out rally that started with another intentional walk for Burmeister. An error from Bateson at shortstop allowed Wolting to get on base and Burmeister to score, while Hayes pushed the score to 5-4 in favor of Shelby with an RBI single to score Wolting.
In the end, it was a pair of big innings that made the difference for Hart. In the bottom of the fourth the Pirates had three base hits and three walks to regain a 7-5 lead with another run added in the fifth. The bottom of the sixth saw Hart add four more runs courtesy of RBIs from Bateson and Chickering along with two runs on passed balls.
Trailing by seven with just one crack at the plate remaining, Shelby was in desperate need of a miracle. That didn’t quite happen, though the Tigers did close it to within two runs on a sequence that saw three runs score before Copenhaver was relieved of her pitching duties by Smith.
Shelby only faced a two-run deficit at that point with two runners in scoring position and Hayes the go-ahead run at the plate. Smith didn’t flinch, throwing just two pitches to end the game on a pop fly that was caught by Cali Eisenlohr at second base.
The Tigers were led at the plate by Hayes’ 3-for-4 mark, alongside hits for Allen, Zarraga, Allie Stovall. Wolting led the team in RBIs with three. Burmeister finished the day with six strikeouts through six innings, allowing 12 earned runs on 11 hits.
“Our girls competed and that’s all I could ask for,” Kevin Burmeister said. “The cool thing is, we don’t lose anybody. We had two freshmen, nine sophomores and two juniors (this season). No it’s not the end result that we wanted, but we took a step in the right direction and put something on the field that these girls can be proud of.”
Shelby will not lose any players, as they retain a young roster that posted a 16-13 record just one season removed from a 5-23 record.
Hart had a bevvy of hitters that led the way with Carrier, Bateson, Copenhaver, Chickering and Leah Walker all notching two hits. Smith had three RBIs to lead the team while Chickering had two. In the circle, Copenhaver struck out seven batters while allowing eight earned runs on six hits.
The Pirates will keep on dancing into the district semifinals where they’ll host Montague Saturday, May 31 at 10 a.m. Hart split with the Wildcats in an April meeting where 54 runs were scored between two games.
“That doubleheader when we played (Montague), it was freezing cold,” DeVries said. “I think our pitching throughout the season has gotten a lot better and that’s going to help a ton going into that matchup. I’m excited for that.”
