The folks at Websters may want to reconsider how to define “resilience” by including a caption about the 2022 Allen Community College softball team.
The Red Devils followed a similar pattern in both sets of doubleheaders Friday and Saturday.
Allen came up short after falling behind early in both openers, but then rebounded with a vengeance on both days to win the respective nightcaps.
On Friday, Allen trailed 8-0 after two innings against visiting Fort Scott, came all the way back to tie in the fourth, but saw the Greyhounds push across three in the sixth in an 11-8 loss.
The misery didn’t last long. Allen erupted for two in the third inning, three in the fourth and two more in the sixth of a 7-1 win in game 2.
Fast forward to Saturday, when visiting Hesston jumped ahead 5-0 after half an inning, then put up 12 runs in a monstrous fifth inning and cruised to a 20-4 win.
That set the stage for Allen’s Skyler Jackson in the second game. Jackson supported her own pitching effort with a third-inning grand slam in an 8-4 victory.
The splits keep the Red Devils even in Jayhawk Conference play at 4-4 (9-13 overall.)
“It’s good to see them coming back and getting game two,” head coach Nicole Peters said. “We always set a goal to stay on track. The girls did a great job of responding.”
Jackson’s big finish to the weekend included a two-run single in the bottom of the second to push ACC on top, 2-0.
An error, two walks and two singles led to three Hesston runs as the Larks took the lead in the top of the third, but that was prelude to the game-changing rally in the bottom of the inning.
Mikayla Long, Ellie Hacker and Alayna Brown each singled to load the bases with nobody out.
Two batters later, Jackson deposited a 1-0 pitch over the left field wall for the grand slam.
“That’s something she’s been waiting on,” Peters said. “It boosted her confidence a little bit, especially when she hit like that behind her pitching. I’m proud of how she was today, on the mound and in the box.”
Hesston responded promptly, with three straight one-out singles to close the gap to 6-4 with the tying runs on base, but Jackson retired the next two batters with consecutive fly balls to end the threat.
Lacey Stamper’s two-run double in the bottom of the fifth capped the scoring.
