Abby Stuckwisch said when she came up to bat in the bottom of the seventh, all she wanted to do was hit the ball and drive in the winning run.
Stuckwisch did her job by hitting the ball into right field to drive in Rylee May to give Brownstown Central’s softball team a 2-1 win over Floyd Central on Monday night.
“I just knew I had to get the girls on base around. I didn’t care if it went to the grass or if it was infield. I knew that I had to move the runners, get them home because it was a tie ballgame. We didn’t want to play another inning,” she said.
With one out in the bottom of the seventh, May singled to right center. After Zoe Stuckwisch walked, Abby Stuckwisch came through with the winning hit.
Abby said she feels confident with her hitting.
“I came up today and I really showed myself with my confidence in myself and used that to deliver a good hit,” she said. “I think the big thing our team has to work on is coming with a great attitude, making sure we play to our fullest potential no matter who we’re playing, no matter what the game. We need to continue to work on our attitude, keep working on our skills, reducing errors, all that in preparation for sectional overall.”
The Highlanders came up with two hits and a hit batsman to score their run in the top of the third.
Kelsey Schneider led off the bottom of the third with a single. She advanced to second on a ground out by Erin Singleton. When nobody was covering third, Schneider advanced to third on the play.
Alli Reynolds hit a fly ball to center field to drive in Schneider.
Schneider, a freshman right-hander, went the distance on the mound for the Braves and allowed three hits, none after the third inning. She walked two and struck out four.
“It feels amazing to keep them down to 1 run,” Schneider said. “I think my change-up was probably my dominant pitch. My second-best pitch was probably my screwball. I was hitting my target. I hit all my spots except for a few. They told me at the beginning of the game to keep it low, and I think I did just fine.”
Schneider said the team is putting things together.
“I feel like everybody has really came into their comfort zone,” she said. “Being a freshman, it was a little nerve-racking coming into this, being my first year with all different girls and stuff, but I think I’ve found my comfort zone with this team.”
Braves coach Monte Ault said his team had one of its best all-around performances of the season.
“Scottsburg was a good win. We faced two quality pitchers that game. We lost some games we should have won but didn’t. We’ve had a few errors and stuff like that,” he said. “The last two games, we had zero errors, and our hitting was good. We ended up getting seven hits. We got the runners on and got the big hits.
“Erin laid down a good bunt when Schneider was on first (in the third inning) and moved her all the way over to third base. Alli did her job getting the ball to the outfield and we got the run,” he said. “Then in the seventh, Rylee walked, Zoe battled in there and got walked.”
He said Abby Stuckwisch has been hitting the ball pretty well in practice.
“She hit a home run in JV off Bedford’s pitcher. She has been hitting the ball real well. She had the hard hit and the game-winning run,” he said. “I’m happy for her doing that being a senior. She doesn’t start every game.”
Ault said he likes where his team is at as far as making progress.
“We’re playing good teams now,” he said. “We’re supposed to play at Corydon (today), Charlestown Thursday and we’ve got Silver Creek and North Harrison. To win the conference, we’ve got to win all of them. I like the way the team is starting to hit, starting to jell.”
The Braves take a 12-7 record to Corydon.
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Floyd Central;001;000;0;-1;3;0
Brownstown;001;000;1;-2;7;0
BC hits: Kelsey Schneider 2, Alli Reynolds, Addy Coomer, Rylee May, Abby Stuckwisch, Emily Singleton; runs: Schneider, May; RBI: Reynolds, Stuckwisch
BC pitching: Schneider 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 4 K, 2 W
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