Hornets: Walk-off wonder

By Doug Layman / Correspondent
Published: May 26, 2008

By Doug Layman
Correspondent
FISHERSVILLE — Sarah Toman’s eyes lit up like a Fourth of July fireworks show.
The pitch was belt high and Toman drilled it to right-center to score Sammy Parker and hand deliver a 1-0 Wilson Memorial win over Clarke County in first-round Region B action at Wilson Memorial High School on Monday.
“I was just looking for something I could hit,” Toman said. “I thought it looked good and I just made contact. I was lucky, I guess.”
Toman’s hit broke open a pitching duel between Wilson’s Summer Ramsey and Clarke’s Rachel Buckner. Both hurlers were meager with their hits and neither walked a better. Lucky or not, two of the three Green Hornet hits came in the pivotal seventh inning.
“I just told the girls in the last inning to keep hitting the ball, but to find the holes,” said Green Hornet coach Maura Stout. “We had been hitting the ball hard, but always right to someone.”
Parker led off the frame with a grounder that Buckner knocked down. It rolled far enough away from shortstop Chelsea Korbini that Parker was able to leg out the hit.
Cheers turned to fears for the Hornet faithful when Wilson slugger Leah Pagett went down swinging, putting the burden square on the shoulders of Toman.
The senior shortstop nailed Bucker’s first pitch and the shot hopped to the fence with Eagle’s center fielder Katie Poston in hot pursuit. Parker motored around the bases and scored easily, finding her Hornet teammates waiting not far from the plate.
The run made a winner of Ramsey, who gave up her first hit with two outs in the seventh.
“I didn’t talk to [Summer] much today,” Stout said.  “But she was dialed in today.  She was really focused and all her pitches were [working].  She hit the corners very well.”
And Ramsey, who’s only loses came to Luray and Page County during the regular season, was in her groove.
“Today, every [pitch] was working pretty well,” the senior said.  “I was giving it all I had today.”
But Ramsey had to overcome some early adversity as two Hornet’s errors in the first inning put runners on first and second with one out.  Ramsey then got Clarke’s best hitter — Lauren McCabe — to line into a double play as Wilson’s Amanda Bradley snagged the smash and caught Tara Fields off the bag at first.
Ramsey didn’t allow another base runner until a Sam Herndon single in the sixth.
“I knew we were going to get out of [that first] inning,” Ramsey said.  “I knew our defense would pick it up.”
And Ramsey was confident that her Hornets would get enough hits to win the game.
“We’ve been hitting the ball pretty well lately,” she said.  “I knew our hitting would come around today.”
It was a long wait for Ramsey.  Wilson hit the ball hard on several occasions but Clarke was positioned to make the putouts.  The Hornet’s Carrie Mawyer was the first to reach safely, taking first on an Eagle error in the third.  But she was stranded as Buckner’s curve and rise pitch were working effectively.
Kayla Blair’s seeing-eye single to right with one out in the sixth gave the hosts something to cheer about.  But the junior was left holding the bag as Bucker stayed on course.
But when Parker made it to first to open the bottom of the seventh, Toman was determined not to abandon her teammate.
“I knew I had to hit it,” Toman said. 
Toman’s walk-off smack pushed the Hornets into the semifinal round of Region B and set up a rematch with visiting Buckingham, a 3-2 winner over Altavista on Monday.  In 2007, a 3-1 win by Wilson gave the Hornets their first-ever trip to state play.
“We’re going back,” Toman said.  “We’re going to play like we want it more than the other team.”