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closeSpartans hang on for dramatic triumph
Sumner Spartans fastpitch team defeats Bonney Lake for the first time in history
Shaun Scott
The ball jumped off of Bonney Lake hitter Caitlin Colvin’s bat like a missile taking off toward outer space.
With the game hanging in the balance, the Sumner Spartans were clinging to a 3-2 lead and for a brief instant it appeared Bonney Lake would erase the deficit permanently with one swing of the bat.
Colvin’s sizzling line drive off of Sumner pitcher Sidney Erickson with the bases loaded landed in the glove of Sumner third baseman Amanda Humphries for the final out in the top of the seventh inning, giving the Spartans a 3-2 victory on April 9 at Sumner High School.
This was the first time Sumner fastpitch team has ever defeated Bonney Lake.
“I was just hoping somebody would catch it,” Erickson said. “We have a strong defense and they did the job. I’m proud of our whole team.”
Sumner Fastpitch Coach Kim Franett-Fergus was glad Humphries was able to haul in a difficult catch to ice the game.
“At first I didn’t know what happened,” Franett-Fergus said. “It was a reaction stab and she caught it.”
Franett-Fergus was ecstatic her team finally toppled one of their biggest nemesis’s.
“We haven’t beat them since Bonney Lake opened. For us its kind of been like the step sister syndrome over the years so this is a huge win for our team. Now we know we can compete with the elite teams in our league. This win shows that we can do it.”
Franett-Fergus said the victory wouldn’t have been possible without the solid play in the field behind Erickson.
“Sidney pitched an outstanding game and did just what we asked of her. She pitched strikes to keep us in the game,” Franett-Fergus said. “We worked hard behind her. The girls showed a lot of heart and weren’t intimidated. Now the girls know we can compete.”
Panthers coach Dave Loveless said his team had plenty of chances to overcome Sumner’s three run cushion in the final four innings of the contest.
“We just didn’t do the small things,” Loveless said. “We missed squeeze bunts a few times and they made the plays they had to in order to win. We just didn’t make it happen.”
Sumner built its lead in the bottom of the first and bottom of the third. Sumner got on the board early after Humphries drove a Colvin pitch deep to right center field, scoring a hustling Rory Zambard from first base resulting in a 1-0 lead.
The Spartans tacked on two more runs in the third after sophomore Kari Hester took advantage of Panthers catcher Brittany Myers throw to second base attempting to catch Sumner speedster Krysta Beers, who was stealing second base, proved to be unsuccessful.
Hester sprinted toward home-plate, easily beating the throw from the infield giving Sumner a 2-0 lead. Beers scored the Spartans third run when Humphries drove her in the bottom of the third for the Spartans final run of the contest. Humphries tallied 2 RBI in the game.