THRALL — The Thrall Tigerettes varsity softball team walked off with a 12-11 victory over the defending district champions Franklin on Tuesday, March 10, as freshman Reese Madsen scored on a ground ball and an errant throw in the bottom of the seventh inning.
“I never had any doubt that our team would come back and win. We have been doing that all season long,” head coach Matt Pokorny said. “I am just super proud of these girls. They never stopped believing that they could win this game, and they did.”
The Tigerettes entered the seventh inning leading 10-3, but the Lions scored eight unanswered runs to take an 11-10 lead heading into Thrall’s final three outs.
Thrall tied the game at 11 on an RBI double from Madsen, who later reached third on a throwing error.
Franklin elected to load the bases with two consecutive intentional walks, setting up a ground ball from sophomore Mireya Torres that brought home the winning run.
The dramatic finish was not the only exciting moment of the game, as senior pitcher Miley Pokorny reached a career milestone with 700 strikeouts after recording eight in the game. Pokorny pitched 5.2 innings, allowing five runs on five hits.
Addison Dickens closed the final 1.1 innings, allowing six runs on four hits with no strikeouts.
Thrall dominated early as it appeared the Tigerettes were on their way to a blowout victory.
Thrall hit two home runs in the bottom of the first inning as Madsen launched a three-run shot and junior Kenzie Engelke followed with a solo home run to make it 4-1.
Madsen finished the game 4-for-4 with three RBIs, while Engelke also went 4-for-4 with four RBIs.
Scoring stalled for both teams until Thrall broke the game open in the fourth inning with five runs. The rally included a groundout and a bases-clearing double from Engelke to extend the lead to 8-1.
Both teams added two runs in the sixth inning. Franklin scored on a single and an error, while Thrall responded with a tworun home run from senior Riley Luton to make it 10-3.
That set up what became a chaotic seventh inning as Franklin scored eight runs on two errors, a walk, a single and two doubles to take the lead.
However, Thrall was able to salvage the game with clutch lateinning hitting.
The Tigerettes improved to 13-7 overall and 3-0 in district play. Thrall will close the series against Franklin on Friday and will host Harper on Friday at 5 p.m.
