Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Victory just eluded Polk County on Tuesday afternoon. Just barely.

 

Hendersonville pushed across two runs in the top of the seventh inning to rally for a 6-5 win over Polk in the Wolverines’ home and Mountain Foothills 7 Conference opener.

The Bearcats did so by the smallest of margins. Hendersonville (2-1, 2-0) trailed by a run in the top of the seventh, but loaded the bases on a base hit and two infield errors, the latter of those coming with two outs. That brought Kennedy Drake to the plate, and the Bearcat sophomore lifted a fly ball to shallow left field that fell tantalizingly close between three converging Polk defenders, allowing the two runs to score that settled the outcome.

Polk County (3-1, 0-1) had taken its one-run edge with a three-run rally in the bottom of the sixth. Chloe Young and Sarah Vitale laced back-to-back singles before Kinley Waters followed with another, her line drive scoring Young. Elizabeth Vitale drove home another run to even the score at 4-4, and a walk to Laney Littlefield loaded the bases with one out. Aslyn Scruggs then put the Wolverines ahead with an infield grounder.

Littlefield and Scruggs scored Polk’s first two runs in the second inning, reaching base on an error and base hit, respectively. Miya Jackson’s infield out drove in Littlefield, and Mia Bradley’s grounder allowed Scruggs to score to give Polk a 2-1 lead.

Hendersonville put together a two-run rally in the fourth to retake the lead, then added another run in the fifth to up the margin to 4-2.

Sarah Vitale finished 3-for-4 to lead Polk County at the plate, with Young, Waters, Scruggs, Elizabeth Vitale and Junie Mitchell each adding hits.

Polk County is set to be in action again on Wednesday, hosting Rosman at 4:30 p.m.