Errors doom Bartlett Yancey softball in playoffs

YANCEYVILLE, N.C. — Rachel Shumaker carefully hung her batting helmet on a hook inside the dugout, and held on for what seemed like an eternity before letting go.

Bartlett Yancey was a groundout away from losing its first game of the season and six seniors — the core of its team — to graduation, including Rachel’s older sister, Hannah, whose high school softball career ended in the on deck circle.

The two former Triad Conference players of the year and their Buccaneers teammates watched their second consecutive undefeated season come to a crashing halt in the state tournament as South Granville took advantage of a few errors and timely hitting to defeat BY 3-1 in the second round of the 3A East playoffs Friday.

Trailing for just the second time this year and facing a two-run deficit — its largest of the season — with the game winding down, top-ranked and generally front-running Bartlett Yancey (25-1) couldn’t find a way out of its funk.

The Bucs squandered the momentum from Cindy Workman’s inside-the-park solo home run in the second inning and surrendered a season-high three runs in the fifth as South Granville (16-5) showed the resiliency Bartlett Yancey desperately needed.

“I guess it’s what we do best, because we’ve gone through it all year, the ups and downs,” South Granville coach and former Averett University softball player Crystal Chandler said. “They’re used to it.”

BY, on the other hand, most certainly is not.

Led by a senior class that has posted an 84-7 record in its four years, the Bucs had no answers for South Granville pitcher Brittany Evans, who allowed four hits, struck out seven and routinely forced groundouts to earn the win. BY left five of its six stranded baserunners in scoring position.

Rachel Shumaker had her usual solid outing in the circle for BY as the junior struck out five, allowed six hits and one earned run. Half of those hits came in the decisive fifth inning, however, when the Bucs compounded their troubles with a pair of fielding errors.

Joya Wortham’s bouncing single through the heart of the BY infield with the bases loaded tied the game and provided the winning run after Lauren Wimple knocked a base hit to shallow center and DaTwanya Bullock reached base on a fielding error. Wortham’s hit also advanced Kanisha Fogg, who collected three infield singles, to third, and she scored moments later thanks to another Bucs miscue — their third of the day.

“We made just as many errors today as we have all year long,” BY coach Kelly Thomasson said. “We did not play our game today. That’s all I can say… They executed and we didn’t.”

And with that, the Bucs say goodbye to six seniors — and Rachel to sharing the diamond with her sister.