Great defense and great pitching made Thursday’s winner’s bracket semifinal in the Section 1AAA tournament an endurance contest.

Friday, June 02, 2000

Great defense and great pitching made Thursday’s winner’s bracket semifinal in the Section 1AAA tournament an endurance contest.

Twice, a Brooke Gentzler hit scored Sara Turvey – once in the first inning and once in the 17th – providing Austin with enough punch to topple Eagan, 2-1.

"I’ve never been involved in a game like this," Austin coach Todd Waterbury said. "These were two evenly matched teams who made few mistakes."

Austin now has two chances to pick up the one win that puts them in the state tournament for the second straight year.

Trying to take that trip away from the Packers will be Farmington, who beat Eagan, 5-1, in the loser’s bracket finals played after the Austin/Eagan marathon.

Farmington will need to beat Austin twice today to earn the Section 1AAA state berth. The teams play at 6 p.m. at Todd Park.

The Austin/Eagan game resulted in two regulation-length games plus three more innings of wonderful fast-pitch softball.

It took an inning for both starting pitchers – Austin freshman Amy Kelly and Eagan senior Meghan O’Boyle – to take control of the game. Once they did, they were in full mastery. Neither pitcher walked a batter or hit a batter. Rarely did they throw three balls to a hitter.

"This game was just unreal," Kelly said. "This the first time I have ever pitched for 17 innings.

"My back started to hurt but I gave it all I got. If we had lost I don’t think I could have pitched another game. The defense did the job. They made some awesome plays."

Eagan scored its only run off Kelly on a single and an RBI double by Betsy Rowley in the first inning.

Turvey and Gentzler then combined for the tying run in the bottom of the first. Eagan defended the slap-hitting Turvey with both their shortstop and second baseman positioned almost even with the pitcher and the three outfielders playing on the dirt. Turvey got it through the defense the first time up for a single to left. She then stole second base. With two outs, Gentzler, the clean up hitter, came up. She stroked one up the middle to plate Turvey.

Then, the marathon was on.

Kelly allowed only one batter to reach base in innings two-through seven. An Eagan runner didn’t get to second base until the 13th inning, when pinch runner Stacy Klee tried to score from second on a base rap by Natalie Darwitz – a member of the women’s USA Olympic Hockey team. Klee was thrown out at the plate by centerfielder Turvey.

"I knew I had to go home," said Turvey, who threw a strike to catcher Rhianna Jacobs, who applied the tag.

"That was an awesome catch (by Jacobs)," Kelly said.

Eagan’s 14th-inning trip to the plate was ended on a Kelly-to-Tiffany Poirier-to-Gentzler double play.

"We work on that play every day in practice," Kelly said. "That was the first time we turned that double play in a game."

In the 16th, Austin battled one more time to end an Eagan threat to score. A lead-off single was followed by a pop up into shallow center. No Austin fielder could make the catch. Right fielder Jamie Nieland pounced on the ball and rifled the ball to second for the force out. Turvey then made a diving catch of a Darwitz drive to center for the second out.

"I just had to get it," Turvey said of her spectacular catch. "We weren’t going to lose this game."

Emily Howlett then came up to bat and smacked the hardest hit off Kelly of the evening. The ball was inches away from the glove of left fielder Mel Gabrielson and, fortunately for Austin, it landed just inches away from fair territory.

Meanwhile O’Boyle was doing the job for the Wildcats. Austin had their chances getting a runner to third base in six different innings – once with one out and five times with two outs.

Austin’s seventh chance succeeded, when the top of the order led off the 17th.

"I told Brooke (Gentzler), ‘I’m going to get on and you’re going to score me,’ " Turvey said.

That was exactly what happened. For the first time on the night, Turvey swung away instead of going for a slap hit or bunt single.

"I asked the coaches to let me swing away," Turvey said.

She swung away and smacked a ball through the hole between third and short. Kelly moved her to second on a sacrifice bunt and to third on a Lauren Feller ground out.

Gentzler then went with an O’Boyle outside pitch. Gentzler, who saw a steady diet of outside pitches all night long, hit the ball over the first baseman into shallow right field scoring Turvey and ending the game.