Perryville softball defeats Central on walk-off base hit

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- The Perryville Pirates kept hanging around.

They finally broke through.

Rebecca Gremaud capped a wild final two innings with a walk-off base hit to help the Pirates (1-0) defeat Central 6-5 in eight innings in the season-opening softball game for both teams Monday at the Perry Park Center.

"It's pretty awesome," Gremaud said. "I'm really excited."

Perryville trailed 5-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.

Perryville's Casey Hotop (6) and Ashley Hotop, right, hug teammate Rebecca Gremaud after Monday's game.

A miscue by the Tigers (0-1) put Morgan Baer on second base with one out, and a throwing error one batter later tied the game at 5-5.

"Perryville did a good job of taking pitches," Central coach Amy Blattel said of the seventh inning. "They put the ball in play, and we had a couple of mental lapses. They were the home team so they could be aggressive on the bases, and they were."

In the eighth, Perryville's Courtney Hotop led off with a single and Casey Hotop bunted for a hit to make it first and second with no outs.

The runners stayed put on a line drive to third and a groundout to shortstop.

But with two outs, Gremaud, batting in the nine hole, hit a liner off Central relief pitcher Bailey Kratochvil that ricocheted into left-center field to score the runner from second.

"I was just trying to hit it in the gap," Gremaud said. "That way the runner on second could hurry up and run home."

Added Pirates coach Jeff Steffens: "Rebecca's a senior. She's been there before. She had a big hit last year in the conference tournament for us. She'll battle and she'll put the ball in play."

After Perryville took a 1-0 lead in the first, Central scored two runs in the top of the second on a walk, hit and Perryville error.

The Tigers increased the lead to 3-1 in the third after a leadoff walk came around to score on a wild pitch.

"At the beginning, I thought we were ready to swing," Blattel said. "We came up aggressive, swinging at first-pitch strikes, and when you do that you put the ball in play and good things happened."

The Pirates trimmed the lead to 3-2 in the third on a sacrifice fly by Brittany Young that scored Ashley Hotop.

Central extended the lead to 5-2 in the fifth inning on consecutive two-out singles by Lexi Smith, Kadie Ornstein and Chelsea Willett.

Perryville answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning. Ashley Hotop and Baer opened the inning with singles and advanced on a wild pitch.

Young roped a single to drive in Hotop, and Baer later scored on a wild pitch. Aleshia Reiss then bunted for a hit to make it first and third with nobody out, but the Tigers' Smith came up with the defensive play of the game.

The Pirates' Courtney Hotop hit a grounder down the first-base line that Smith snagged and tagged the batter then threw out Young as she tried to dive back to third.

The play swung the momentum toward the Tigers.

"Anytime you can pull a big defensive play that like, it really fires us up," Blattel said.

Added Steffens: "That was a big momentum change. It really brought our girls down."

The Pirates didn't stay down long.

Perryville ace Casey Hotop was solid over the final three innings, allowing only one base runner on a walk.

"She did a fantastic job," Steffens said. "She let up two or three runs when she got a little wild, but she's coming off a 21-win season as a sophomore and hopefully she's our mainstay."

Central 021 020 00 -- 5 6 3

Perryville 101 020 11 -- 6 10 1

WP -- Casey Hotop (1-0). LP -- Bailey Kratochvil (0-1). 3B -- Morgan Baer (P). 2B -- Baer (P). Multiple Hits: Perryville, Baer 3-3, Ashley Hotop 2-4; Central, Lexi Smith 2-2, Kratochvil 2-4.