By SPENCER BATES
ALLEGANY — The campaign could not have gotten off to a much better start for the Allegany-Limestone softball team, walking off East Aurora in its season-opener.
The Gators pulled out all the stops in their 9-8 win over the Blue Devils: solid pitching, explosive offense and resilience when it mattered most.
“We’re actually a pretty young team, and they came back at the very end, when we needed it the most, and that’s what we were looking for,” A-L coach Kaelyn Arnold said. “We had a couple errors in the beginning, but we came back and fought back.”
A-L wasted no time breaking the game open, putting up seven runs through the first three frames, five of which came in a second-inning barrage. Immediately, this was a positive sign for Arnold, whose side is full of younger talent this season.
“It was great to see, we’ve got some new girls, young girls, and they showed out,” Arnold said. “The bottom of the lineup rolled back to the top, and it was everything we could have asked for.”
But not only was the offense firing on all cylinders from the start, so too was pitcher Kailey Truman, who finished the game with eight strikeouts. With great control, the junior was finding her spots and blanked East Aurora through two innings. There were some moments where she struggled, notably when the Blue Devils scored four runs in the third and three runs in the sixth, but overall, it was an opening-day performance Arnold was satisfied with.
“She’s throwing great, looking great,” Arnold said. “She threw strikes. She got a little iffy there at the end, but she came back and settled in and really took over.”
Allegany-Limestone’s Kailey Truman (10) winds up for a pitch. Truman recorded eight strikeouts against East Aurora. (Spencer Bates)
But it was in those middle innings — where Truman stumbled slightly — that East Aurora clawed its way back into the game, taking their first lead in the top of the sixth. But Arnold was not quick to dole out any blame or give any excuse for the concession of the lead. She simply noted that the Blue Devils were getting some luck off the bat with hard-hit balls finding the ground in the outfield.
“They were a little late on our ball, so that’s why a lot of them were going to right field and down the line,” Arnold said. “But other than that, they just got some lucky hits and (the game) kind of just happened that way. But we came back and battled.”
And battle back they did.
Despite giving up the lead late, Arnold pointed out that her team never gave up the fight. They were on their feet in the dugout, doing everything they could to spur their team back into the lead.
And as a result of that determination, the Gators, in a tie game with a runner on second, were rewarded. With one swing of the bat, Abby Peck — with her third hit of the game — blasted a grounder through the infield, reaching first safely and scoring Truman for the walk-off run.
“It was fantastic,” Arnold said of her team’s energy. “They all stood up and cheered on each other. I know we got down there, it was 8-7 for a second. We came back, got it to a tie at 8-8, and we knew, right away, when we got back up in the seventh inning, we had to get that run in.”
It was a big result on Day One for Arnold who has her side in the win column right out of the gates. Still, she admitted, there is plenty to work on. Notably some problems in the outfield and with some errors. But ultimately, she knows her team will make the adjustments as the season progresses.
“I’m not totally satisfied yet,” Arnold said. “We still got a lot of work to do. (There were) a couple of errors there, in the outfield, that we definitely need to fix, but we’re right there. We’re close, and I know we’ll get there.”
Next up for A-L is a home matchup with Bolivar-Richburg. That will take place on March 31, with first pitch slated for 5 p.m.
