PLEASANTVILLE – A quick study of scores, seasons stats and histories suggested that the tournament game matching Murray and Montezuma would be a close one.
It was.
Murray broke a 3-3 tie by pushing in a run in the home half of the seventh inning for a walk-off, 4-3 softball win over Montezuma on Wednesday evening, July 10.
This was a pitching duel between Montezuma’s Syd Burgess and Murray’s Presley Van Winkle. The two went the distance and gave up a combined five hits. Only two of the 7 runs scored were earned by the pitchers.
Montezuma scored all 3 of its runs in the fifth inning to take a 3-2 lead. Murray tied it with a run in the bottom half of the fifth, then pushed across the winning run with one out in the seventh.
Mya Smothers had one hit and drove in two runs for the Bravettes.
Kam Schmidt had the other Bravette hit.
Vivian Cook had the other Montezuma run batted in, but she did it without benefit of a hit.
Montezuma hitters drew four bases on balls, and Chloe Snook, Madison Van Zee and Kam Schmidt all had stolen bases.
Errors were few, but played roles in runs crossing the plate. Montezuma made 2 errors, to Murray’s 3.
Burgess went the distance for Montezuma: 6.1 innings, 3 hits, 4 runs allowed, of which two were earned. She walked 8 and struck out 2.
Van Winkle pitched 7.0 innings, yielding 2 hits and 3 runs, none of them earned. She walked 4, hit 3 and struck out 4.
The loss ended a 10-13 season for a young Montezuma team, which had to overcome key injuries, but wound up being a hard-hitting team.
Murray, who like the Bravettes included just three seniors, moves on with a record of 23-6.
