Bussard pitches 3-hitter, fans 14, but injury to Manns dampens Valley’s sectional win over NorthWood

Caudill adds 3 hits, KC Shriver, Bussard have 2 hits each

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Dalynne Bussard Temperance Caudill KC Shriver

NAPPANEE — The Tippecanoe Valley softball team won its sectional opener Monday, but the win may have come with a cost.

Dalynne Bussard pitched a three-hitter with 14 strikeouts, and she also had two hits and an RBI at the plate as Valley handled host NorthWood 6-1 in a Class 3A, Sectional 20 quarterfinal at the Field of Dreams Complex Monday.

Temperance Caudill added three hits and an RBI, and KC Shriver had two hits and an RBI.

Valley improved to 13-9 and earned a semifinal meeting with Columbia City at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

NorthWood finished 8-18. They have never won a softball sectional title.

Valley senior center fielder Kahlyn Manns, who sports a .413 batting average and who hits third in the batting order, suffered a right ankle injury while sliding awkwardly into second base in the first inning.

Valley was playing their first game on turf this season. Manns needed to be helped off the field and was taken away on a Gator by trainers after the game was over.

Kylie Cunningham entered the game in right field with Makenzey Morton moving from right to center. Valley is already playing without sophomore first baseman Naomi Gaerte, who has been out with a right knee injury since a season-opening win over Wawasee in March.

“I was anxious because of it being the first time on turf this year,” Valley coach Brian Barger said. “She just went in and rolled her ankle. That’s a tough way to start the first inning. … She’s pretty sore right now, so she’s going to wait to sleep on it tonight and see how she feels in the morning and whether or not to go to the doctor. She wants to play tomorrow, but we’ll just have to go day by day now.”

Valley was clinging to a 2-1 lead after five innings when they scored three runs off starter Lydia Paul and reliever Madelyn Lambert to give Bussard some breathing room.

Left-handed hitting Minda Shriver yanked a single into the hole between first and second to lead off the inning. Gaby Gonzalez hit a grounder back to the pitcher, but the throw to get a possible forceout skipped into center field, and Minda Shriver got up and raced to third on the error.

Gonzalez stole second.

Morton hit a hot grounder that trickled through the second baseman’s legs for another error to score Minda Shriver and move Gonzalez to third.

NorthWood coach Mandy DeMien elected to pitch to Bussard, Valley’s all-time hits leader, with a base open, and Bussard clobbered a double to the center field fence to score Gonzalez and move Morton to third.

DeMien replaced Paul with Lambert, and KC Shriver greeted Lambert by grounding a single between third base and shortstop for an RBI single to make it 5-1.

“I just went up there,” KC Shriver said. “I had to have confidence. There were runners on. I had to move them around. I had to put the ball in play.”

In the bottom of the sixth, Victoria Vega led off by reaching on a two-base error, but Bussard struck out Paul, and Valley catcher Kaitlyn Threlkel threw out Vega trying to steal third.

Payton Sears reached on an infield single, and Taryn Marcum also singled, but Bussard got Lambert, a freshman who has hit six homers, on a fly to Morton in center to get out of the jam.

Gonzalez’s RBI groundout in the seventh completed the scoring.

“It was like a rollercoaster,” Barger said when asked to describe the offensive execution. “The first inning, we got it going pretty good. In the middle innings there, we got runners on and just didn’t push runners across the plate. … We got a couple hits together to put those runs in position.”

Valley scored twice in the top of the first and led wire to wire.

Bussard led off with a bloop single to right-center. KC Shriver’s grounder to third moved Bussard to second. Manns also reached on a blooper to right-center, moving Bussard to third.

After an injury timeout for Manns, Malaynie Costello drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to left. 

Pinch runner Cunningham went to third on a wild pitch. Threlkel walked. Caudill then hit a soft liner with a lot of spin just over the circle and beat a close play at first for an infield hit, scoring Cunningham.

Meanwhile, Bussard struck out nine of the first 10 batters she faced with NorthWood’s only baserunner coming on an error.

In the fourth, Paul led off with a triple to center, and Bussard walked Sears.

Marcus flew out to left field. The throw home appeared to be in time to retire Paul for a double play, and the home plate umpire even initially signaled that Paul was out. But the catcher dropped the ball on the tag and she was called safe on the error.

The lead was down to 2-1.

Bussard then retired the next five batters to maintain the lead.

“She missed her spots a couple times that led to a couple of those little base hits there and balls put in play,” Barger said. “She’s just got to make that adjustment tomorrow because Columbia City is going to be a little bit better hitting team.”

Valley lost 4-3 to Columbia City on Thursday. Bussard pitched three scoreless innings in relief in that game. Columbia City also beat Valley in last year’s sectional final.

In Monday’s other quarterfinal, Fairfield eliminated Wawasee 11-0 in five innings. Fairfield will play West Noble at 5:30 p.m. today in the first semifinal.

KC Shriver

Much has happened for KC Shriver during her senior year. She has moved to shortstop, a position she had not played in high school before.

She welcomed her younger sister Minda as a new teammate. 

And then she had to figure out what was wrong with her hitting.

“A lot different,” KC Shriver said when asked to describe the difference between winning a regular season game and a sectional game. “It feels more emotional with it being my senior year. It’s been a rollercoaster.”

She was asked to describe her hitting this year. Her two hits against NorthWood increased her batting average to .288.

She hit leadoff for much of the year but batted second behind Bussard Monday.

“Beginning of the year, it was not great at all,” Shriver said. “But as my confidence has improved throughout the season, my batting has too. It’s all in the confidence.”

She played second base last year and was a catcher before that. Due to the graduation of Mackaylie Costello, there was a void at shortstop that needed to be filled.

“The rotations are completely opposite over on that side of the field,” Shriver said. “It’s just different, very different.”

Shriver said she had never played with her sister prior to this year. Minda Shriver went 1 for 1 against NorthWood with a single, two walks and a sacrifice bunt.

“Very different,” Shriver said. “I have never played with her before. We played middle school together, but it was middle school, so it didn’t really mean much. And just watching her improve as my little sister, it’s a show.”

Asked what Minda can do that she can’t, and KC said, “Slap. Anything from the left side.”

Asked what she can do that Minda can’t, and KC laughed and said, “Field the ball.”

KC acknowledged she is more talkative than Minda.

“As a freshman, I was pretty hard-headed,” Shriver said. “If it wasn’t my way, it’s the highway. It was a rough season, a very rough season. But with her coming in and seeing how she’s better than me in that aspect, it’s good.”

Shriver was asked if she has allowed herself to dream about winning a sectional.

“It would even more if we won sectional and got to host the regional game at Valley,” Shriver said. “It’s my home field.”

Tippecanoe Valley 6, NorthWood 1

Valley 200 003 1 – 6 10 3

NorthWood 000 100 0 – 1 3 2

WP – Dalynne Bussard (7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 14 K)

LP – Lydia Paul (5 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 K)

2B – Dalynne Bussard (TV), Temperance Caudill (TV), 

3B – Lydia Paul (NW)