Unable to finish it in the top of the seventh inning, the Warren East softball team opted to walk it off – outlasting Greenwood 5-4 on Tuesday at Warren East High School.

Greenwood (3-8 overall, 0-1 District 14) rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game before Ashton Akins delivered a walk-off RBI double to keep Warren East (8-0, 1-0) unbeaten.

“I’m very proud of how they fought,” Warren East coach Philip McKinney said. “They just found a way to win and that’s all you can ask for.”

Olivia Price started for the Lady Raiders in the circle, with Katie Gardner given the night off to rest a sore thumb. Price’s night got off to a rocky start with the first four Lady Gators reaching, including an RBI single by Kaylie Allen that gave Greenwood a 1-0 lead.

Price settled in and escaped without any further damage, inducing two pop-ups and a strikeout to keep the deficit at one.

“We were very, very fortunate,” McKinney said. “They swung the bats very well. Bases loaded and no outs and they only score one run – we were very fortunate we weren’t down 3-0 or 4-0 after that first inning.”

Warren East took the lead in the bottom of the second – stringing together a walk and three hits, including an RBI single by Lucy Patterson that made the score 2-1.

The bottom of the order struck again in the fourth. Kya Elkin doubled and Kelsey Sparks singled to start the inning. Patterson added another RBI single that scored Elkin, with Sparks scoring on a sacrifice bunt by Hayley Hymer.

Price’s night on the mound ended after three innings, with Emma Markham coming on in relief in the fourth. The eighth-grader held the Greenwood bats in check for three innings before running into trouble in the seventh.

Greenwood loaded the bases with three straight one-out singles before Markham got Alex Grubbs to pop up for the second out. Allen kept the Lady Gators’ hopes alive with a two-run single and the tying run came in on an error before Markham got a groundout to keep the game tied.

That set the stage for Akins’ walk-off heroics.

Price worked a leadoff walk, with Jayda Bays singling two batters later to put runners at first and second.

Maddie Thomas relieved Bush to face Akins, who roped a two-strike pitch into the left-field corner for the game-winning hit.

“Before the game coach told us we had to fight until the end,” Akins said. “He told us that our main goal was to win by one. We fought until the end. I stepped up and had those two strikes and my nerves were everywhere, but I got that hit … it felt really good.”

Markham earned the win, allowing two earned runs in four innings, while Price allowed three hits and one earned run in three innings.

“Olivia didn’t really make them swing and miss,” McKinney said. “Her pitches were a little flat and they did a really good job of hitting the ball hard the first couple of innings. I bring in an eighth-grader and she’s never pitched in a district varsity game. Emma Markham did a good job. I told her, ‘I’m going to ride you out. You are going to pitch the sixth and seventh. Get us through it.’ I thought she did an excellent job. Her heart was in her throat there most of the time that seventh, but she hung on.”

Sparks and Patterson paced the Warren East offense with two hits each.

Allen and Tabitha Willgruber had two hits each for Greenwood.

“I’m very proud of how the girls came out and finished,” Greenwood coach Rebecca Rousseau said. “We had a good start and then we kind of laid off for a while. They came back and still had the fight in them, and I am proud of them for that.”

Both teams return to action at 5:30 p.m. Thursday with district road games. Greenwood will play at Bowling Green, while Warren East plays at South Warren.

GHS 100 000 3 – 4

WEHS 020 200 1 – 5

WP: Markham LP: Bush.{&end}