BROWNSTOWN – Brownstown rallied from a 4-0 deficit and survived a power surge from Bedford North Lawrence’s Kendall Graves to post a 6-5 win during girls high school softball action on Monday night.
Graves, a junior shortstop who has committed to Butler, blasted three home runs, but the Braves (1-2) scored five runs in the fifth and walked off with a victory when Kinzee Dean cracked a two-out home run in the bottom of the seventh.
“We were cruising,” BNL coach Brad Gilbert said. “They had a couple of big hits to score some runs, the next thing you know they took the lead. We had a lot of positives. We couldn’t hang on, ran out of gas a little bit.”
The Stars took the early lead when Ava Ratliff singled and Graves launched her first home run in the first. Graves belted a solo shot in the third, and BNL added another run in the fourth when Bella Warren singled, stole second, took third on a ground out and score on Tori Nikirk’s bunt.
The Braves exploded in the fifth. With the bases loaded, Kyndle Huddleston stroked a two-run single. After the third run scored on a fielder’s choice, Dean belted a two-run single for a 5-4 lead. The Stars answered in the top of the seventh with Graves’ third bomb, but Dean connected off BNL reliever Macee Nicholson for the game-winning blast.
Graves was 4-for-4 with her 4 RBIs, while Aliza Jewell had three hits and Anna Williams collected two. Brownstown hurler Kelsey Schneider went the distance in the circle and struck out 8 while allowing 11 hits.
The Stars (1-3) will visit Indian Creek on Thursday. The scheduled game at Charlestown on Tuesday was cancelled.
