By BILLY HEYEN
BROCKPORT, N.Y. — When the final out is recorded in a championship game, players react in different ways to show their excitement. For Brighton pitcher Ainsley Evanetski, it meant jumping up and down nine times before she was mobbed by her teammates just behind the circle.
The sophomore had pitched and hit her team to a sectional title. The jumping was warranted.
“Unbelievably amazing right now,” Evanetski said minutes after the final out. “I can’t believe the effort that the whole entire team just did. Everyone just bonded and it’s unbelievable, I can’t explain.”
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Brighton hung on to defeat Bishop Kearney, 4-3, in the Section V Class A1 title game on Friday evening. Evanetski drove in a run at the plate along with throwing a complete game for the win, earning tournament MVP honors. After allowing two runs in the third, the Barons responded and then limited BK to just one further run to finish the game and claim the sectional crown.
“I didn’t want the season to end,” Brighton head coach Jim Purtell said. “We get to play another day. We get to be together for another day. It’s a great feeling.”
Heading into Friday’s contest, Brighton knew the challenge that’d be awaiting it in the form of BK pitcher Emily Phelan. Committed to St. Bonaventure and with as much velocity as any arm in Section V, Phelan was coming off an 18-strikeout performance to reach the final.
Brighton knew a couple of things. First, they wanted to get on the board early. Letting Phelan hit her groove could prove costly. And secondly, they didn’t want to get too deep into counts. Every time the count reached one strike, Barons’ head coach Jim Purtell wanted them to approach the at bat like there were two.
“We wanted to prove that we could pull the ball on her and put the ball in play,” Purtell said. “… Shorten everything up, hit the ball up the middle, put the ball in play. We knew she threw a lot of hard pitches. We were just gonna try and time the fastball. We were gonna dig in.”
Striking early was exactly what Brighton did. Anna Purtell lined a single off the first baseman’s glove, and then Evanetski unloaded on a 3-2 pitch to drive it over the centerfielder for an RBI double. Two batters later, Sarah Ahrens knocked a ball into right field to score Evanetski and take an early two-run lead.
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BK answered in the top of the third with two runs that came on a two-out error. The game was all knotted up, and for a few moments, Evanetski was worried.
“It was kinda scary,” Evanetski said. “I have to admit it, I was really nervous.”
It didn’t take long for Brighton to answer and ease its pitcher’s fears. In the bottom of the third, the Barons tallied three hits and scored two runs. That included a Bridget Kerwick single into right to make it 4-2 after three. From there, Evanetski found her groove.
The Brighton righty managed 1-2-3 innings in the fourth and the fifth, stifling mid-game thoughts of a Kearney rally. In the sixth, BK got one back courtesy of an Emily Tytler RBI single. But Evanetski used a high heater to get a strikeout and end the frame.
In the seventh, Evanetski didn’t let a rally get started. Kerwin made a diving catch in left field for the first out, then the Barons turned a bunt-for-hit attempt into out number two. And with two strikes and two outs, Evanetski induced a popup for the day’s final out. Finally, she could jump up-and-down nine times and be mobbed by her teammates.
“It kinda felt crazy,” Evanetski said. “I focused, and I just got everything done, and my defense helped me out.”
As Purtell was interviewed along the first-base line after the game, Brighton looked for a way to take advantage of the time-honored, dump-liquid-on-the-coach celebration. The Barons didn’t have a big cooler like they do in those celebrations, though.
No matter. What they did have was a Brighton colored, blue-and-white, plastic water bottle, full of mostly ice. Purtell never saw it coming as the ice bath nailed him from behind. Considering the occasion, he didn’t mind at all.
“Fantastic,” Purtell said of the dousing. “I’ll take it any day of the week.”
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