Erie shocks #1 Holy Family

What a game.

What a game.

What a game.

Erie shocked Tri-Valley leading, RPI #3, 1st ranked Holy Family (13-2, 5-1) on a walk-off 2 run shot to left center in the bottom of the 8th after a game tying grand slam in the bottom of the seventh.

And a shocker it was, given that Erie (11-5, 6-2) had put up no runs before 4 in the fifth and sixth, and 7 in the final two innings. 

Megan Loveland gave up four runs over the first two innings for the Tigers before being pulled for Leach. Leach gave up a run in the fifth and three in the sixth.

Leach said after the game that she came in and tried to keep the Holy Family hitters off balance.

Erie didn’t get any runs across until the fifth, when Jen Williams hit a 2 run double. They added two more in the sixth on consecutive singles from Leach and Teagan Brand to pull within 5. In the process, they knocked out star pitcher Erin Caviness.

Then the Erie rally started in the bottom of the seventh.

Williams and Vaughan both singled to start the inning. Cassidy Chavtal came in for Caviness in the bottom of the sixth and, after giving up the singles, walked Kambry Fraser and Kaylee Armstrong. Armstrong’s walk scored Williams. Next up was Madie Leach. She battled for one of the longest at-bats of the game. After at least 10 pitches, she ripped a line drive to left-center field. It kept rising and cleared the fence by about 3 feet for a game tying grand slam. She said that she was only trying to get a base hit and keep the rally going, but she did far better than that.

She came out to pitch the eighth, and after giving up a one out double, she got out of the inning unscathed.

Kat Sackett and Williams were both out quickly in the bottom of the eighth. However, Mady Vaughan was able to get a single over the third baseman’s head.

Fraser stepped up to the plate for one of the sophomore’s best at-bat’s ever. After quickly falling behind 0-2, she fouled several pitches off before the magic happened.

She hammered a no-doubt two run walk off home run that gave Holy Family their second loss on the year, and their first in Tri-Valley play.

“It was just me and the ball,” said Fraser. “I knew there were two strikes and that I just had to foul it off, to do something, to keep the game alive.”

Did she ever.

Grayson Blalock: [email protected], and @grayson_blalock on Twitter