PLEASANT HILL – It took grit, mental toughness and an extra inning, but Newton was able to overcome six errors in the field to defeat Franklin Monroe 9-8 in eight innings on Wednesday.
The game was back-and-forth throughout as Franklin Monroe scored 3 runs in the top of the first before Newton managed to score a pair of runs in the second. The Lady Jets pushed their lead to 5-2 in the top of the fifth and Newton matched the effort with 2 runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning.
Franklin Monroe then scored 2 more runs in the sixth to go up 7-4, but again, Newton responded with 3 runs in its half of the sixth to tie the score at 7-7 – which is where the score stood through seven innings.
Newton appeared to be in trouble as Franklin Monroe scored a run in the top of the eighth and was one out from defeat in its appearance at the plate. This is where grit and mental toughness came to the forefront as freshman Sienna Montgomery singled to keep hope alive and then scored on a double by senior Molly Norman to tie the score at 8-8. Layla VanCulin, another freshman, followed with the game-winning hit on a walk-off double to score Norman from second.
In all, Newton had 14 hits in the contest with senior Camryn Gleason leading the way with 4 hits in 5 plate appearances. Layla VanCulin, who had the game-winner, drove in 3 runs on 3 hits and scored twice herself.
Laci Miller went the distance in the circle for Newton to pick up the win.