LouisvilleCatholicSports.com

Toppers fall 13-9 despite third-inning rally

One night after celebrating Senior Night, Presentation Academy fell short despite an intense third-inning rally, and lost 13-9 to DuPont Manual in the opening round of the Lady Charger Classic against host Jeffersontown High School.

The Toppers allowed Manual to get on the scoreboard in the top of the first on a sequence of errors. After a game-opening triple by the Crimsons and a walk two batters later, Pres twice overthrew trying to tag the runner out on a steal on the same play.

The errors led to both players crossing the plate, giving Manual the early 2-0 lead.

Presentation was able to get one of those runs back in the bottom of the 1st inning after back to back doubles by Madison Stewart and Katie Lee. Stranding only one player going into the 2nd, Presentation got within one with a score of 2-1.

However, it would be the second inning that would haunt the Toppers for the rest of the game.

Presentation allowed the bases to load with no outs after two walks and hitting another batter by a pitch. With runners on all the bases, the Lady Crimsons were able to get massive production at the plate after a base hit RBI, leaving the bases loaded once again and a 3-1 lead. The next batter nailed a grand slam, giving Manual the 7-1 lead.

The Lady Crimsons snagged three more runs in the inning, giving them the demonstrative 10-1 lead going into the bottom of the 2nd.

Presentation used their second batting attempt to try to lessen their defensive woes from earlier in the inning. After loading the bases, Ashlee Kirchner grounded out to get back one of the runs and putting Manual’s lead at 8 at 10-2.

After holding the Lady Crimsons scoreless in the 3rd, the Toppers had their own haunting inning to give back to Manual. Presentation got the bottom of the 3rd inning going after the first four batters got base hits, cutting the lead to 10-4.

It was an inning of textbook base running as the Toppers got extra bases and took advantage of every bad pitch and overthrow handed to them. The inning was highlighted by Stewart’s 3-RBI triple before being thrown out herself as she slid into 3rd. The Toppers were able to get within 1, going down only 10-9.

The luck ran out for Presentation, though, in the fourth and final inning. After 3 walks and allowing 3 base hits, the Lady Crimsons extended the lead back out to 13-9.

Though Presentation got another crack at the bats, they were unable to get anything back on the scoreboard and lost the contest 13-9.

“This game tonight, we played,” Presentation head coach Tony Fargnoli said. “We made it a game tonight because we have hitters. We made some silly mistakes tonight, dropped balls and missed throws but I thought we played good today. We represented the school well today, I thought we put forth a tremendous effort and that’s what I’m the most happy about.”

Pres (4-8) fall into the tournament's loser's bracket and will play the Sacred Heart-Collins winner at 9am on Saturday.