Ryle softball team gets rivalry win over Conner

The Conner and Ryle softball teams renewed their intense district rivalry Wednesday at Conner with another closely contested game, won 5-4 by the Raiders in 10 innings under international tie-breaking rules.

The Raiders, ranked No. 2 in the Enquirer Northern Kentucky coaches' poll, were outhit by the No. 3 Cougars, 10-7. But they managed to improve their record to 8-2, courtesy of Katelyn Stephens' 10th-inning, slow-rolling RBI groundout to the second baseman that scored from third Mikayla Demetrakis, who began the inning at second with no outs.

Conner (5-3) put a runner on third in the bottom of the 10th but couldn't get her home with the tying run. A pop-out to the shortstop ended it, extending Ryle's winning streak to four.

The Cougars, who have lost two in a row after starting 5-1, were not without opportunities. They loaded the bases twice in the contest and stranded a total of 11 runners. Losing pitcher Elizabeth Sims and teammate Jenna Hicks both went 3-for-5 against Ryle ace Ali Crupper, who struck out five, but it wasn't enough.

Kennady Carson went 2-for-4 for the Raiders. Stephens went 1-for-3 with a double and three RBI. She plated Ryle's first run with a first-inning double and drove in her second run in the top of the seventh with a sacrifice fly, giving the Raiders a 4-2 lead.

Conner scored two in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings, the tying run scoring on Hicks' two-out single down the left field line. They played two scoreless innings of standard softball before going to international rules to begin the 10th.

It was a costly win for Ryle, which improved to 2-0 in 33rd District play while dropping defending district tournament champion Conner to 0-1. Raiders senior shortstop Bella Steinle, who returned to the team after a two-year absence, left the game in the bottom of the seventh after suffering a left ankle injury. She got her spikes caught in the grass while trying to avoid a collision with the left fielder, who waved off the charging Steinle and caught the final out of the inning.

Steinle, who played on Ryle's 2010 and '11 Ninth Region championship squads, fell to the ground and grabbed her ankle. She had to be helped off the field by trainers and watched the rest of the game from behind the third-base-side fence while sitting in the trainer's cart with her ankle wrapped in ice.

VIEW FROM THE SIDELINE: "It's breaking my heart. That girl is tops, so it's kind of devastating," Ryle first-year coach Craig Milburn said of Steinle's injury, which will keep her out indefinitely. "I'm just hoping it's a strain, and maybe just a week or two she'll be back. Despite that, it was good to see the girls pull together."

Said Conner coach Kristin Koors: "It's obviously disappointing because the district seeding games are important. We left 11 runners on, and you can't afford that in a district game."

PLAYS OF THE GAME: Stephens' third RBI was the game-winner, but it was made possible by Steinle, who got the Raiders out of the bottom of the sixth with no damage done by snaring a hot smash to short with the bases loaded and throwing to first to end the threat.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME: Stephens shined with the bat. Crupper did it with her arm, and Steinle did it with her glove before the injury. "All we could do was go out there and try to win for our teammate, and we did," Crupper said.

QUOTABLE: "I heard (the left fielder) call it, and I stopped and jumped back to let her get it, and I heard a pop and felt a pain shoot up my leg," Steinle said of the fateful play in shallow left. "I've only had one injury before, a buckle fracture in my thumb on my right throwing hand in the regional as a seventh-grader, so I hope I can come back from it pretty soon."

WP: Crupper (7-2). LP: Sims (4-3). Leaders: R-Stephens 2B, 3 RBI; Carson 2-4. C-Hicks 3-5, 3B; Sims 3-5, 2B. Records: R 8-2, C 5-3.